ROC Weekly Management & Mindset Segment

Focus on "One Big Thing" To Reach Your Goals and Improve Your Drug and Alcohol Treatment Facility

Crossing items off a checklist gives us a lot of satisfaction. Unfortunately, this endless list of things to do, and our attempt to cross off as many tasks as possible throughout the day, results in an unstructured approach to our responsibilities and goals. 

It is usually when we invest time and thought into something that the best work occurs. Whenever we have important tasks to complete, the challenge isn't breaking them down into smaller tasks and completing them as we go, it's finding the time to get them done.

As a traditional to-do list might reward crossing off small, menial tasks, this type of list is never complete, and rarely brings you closer to your goals. Don’t confuse productivity with busyness. Productivity is getting important things done consistently rather than accomplishing as many tasks as possible (remember the famous quote from Dwight Eisenhower, “What is important is seldom urgent and what is urgent is seldom important.”) Your approach should therefore be to accomplish one big thing per day by prioritizing it on your to do list. The main idea is to do fewer things for greater impact.

When you use this approach, your to-do list will be restructured. As opposed to listing tons of things to do and picking one at random, you should instead choose one big thing, three medium things, and five small things to do per day. This will help maintain your focus and ensure you are addressing the most important tasks.

Including smaller tasks on your list allows you to make time for administrative tasks that may be less important, yet still require your attention and time. Scheduling these smaller tasks and prioritizing them can reduce the overwhelm you may face as they pile up and demand your attention.

Tips for implementing the “one big thing” strategy

• While it is helpful to review your to-do lists daily to ensure your highest priority tasks are scheduled, you can also outline all the tasks you wish to complete each week and categorize as small, medium, and large. This can help you have an overview of the week and determine the tasks that absolutely need to get done.

• Consider getting your most important task done first thing each day. In addition to ensuring the task is completed, you can devote time to the most important task when you are least distracted, and most motivated and energetic.

• Don't schedule any additional tasks until you have completed your daily to-do list. This will help you stay on track and focus on the tasks that will help you get closer to your goals rather than responding to urgent yet unimportant tasks.

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