🏆 Big Rocks Go First

💭ONE THOUGHT
Big Rocks Go First

As we wrap up 2024, it is a great time to reflect on the year and set goals for the upcoming year. Today’s post is about this.

As coaches and leaders, we often find ourselves juggling multiple tasks, responsibilities, and demands.

Our days are filled with practices, games, meetings, emails, and game plans, leaving little time to focus on what truly matters.

But here’s the truth.

If we don’t prioritize the big things, the smaller things will take over.

Stephen Covey shared a great analogy that is so relevant for coaches and leaders (VIDEO AT THE END).

BIG ROCKS GO FIRST!

Imagine your life as a bucket.

You’ve got big rocks, small rocks, pebbles, sand, and water.

The big rocks represent the most important things to you as a coach: your values, relationships, and core coaching principles.

The smaller rocks are your daily tasks, the pebbles are minor responsibilities, and the sand and water represent all the little distractions and interruptions that fill our days.

The key?

If you don’t put the big rocks in first, you won’t have room for them later.

What Are Your Big Rocks?

In coaching, the big rocks are the things that truly make a difference in your team’s development, culture, and success. These might be:

• Developing meaningful relationships with your players

• Instilling team values like discipline, resilience, and teamwork

• Building a positive team culture

• Focusing on player growth, both on and off the field

• Creating clear communication and strong leadership within your team

These are the non-negotiables - the elements of coaching that you must prioritize above all else if you want to build a successful program.

If you don’t take care of these, the small tasks (like scheduling, logistics, or game strategies) will fill up your time, leaving no room for what truly matters.

What Happens When You Don’t Prioritize the Big Rocks?

When we allow the sand and pebbles, things like endless emails, minor tasks, or day-to-day distractions to fill our time, we push the big rocks aside. This leads to:

• A lack of direction for your team

• A team culture that feels inconsistent

• Burnout from constantly managing the little things

• Surface-level relationships with players that lack depth

In other words, if we fail to prioritize our most important priorities, we’ll never find the time or space to focus on them later.

Three Steps to Prioritizing Your Big Rocks

1. Identify What Matters Most - Take a moment to reflect: What are your big rocks as a coach? Is it developing leadership in your players? Building a strong team culture? Developing character? Write them down, and make sure they’re clear.

2. Schedule Your Big Rocks First - Once you know what your big rocks are, schedule time for them in your daily routine. Don’t wait until you “find time”—make time. Whether it’s blocking off time for individual player check-ins, leadership development, or team culture-building, make sure those big rocks are the foundation of your schedule.

3. Let the Small Stuff Fit Around the Big Rocks - The small rocks, pebbles, and sand will always be there. But when you prioritize the big rocks, you’ll find that the smaller tasks can fit around them. The key is to let the important things shape your day, not the distractions.

As coaches, it’s easy to get caught up in the small, urgent tasks that fill our days.

But the most successful coaches are the ones who make room for the big rocks first.

Always Remember: Your impact is truly defined by the relationships you build, the values you instill, and the culture you create. Everything else is secondary.

What are your big rocks for 2025?

Check out the Video!

🔗 LINKS OF THE WEEK

🎥 Video: JP Nerburn: Burnout and Coaching

🎙️ Podcast: Coach Collins and I discuss the 9 Traits of Leaders in this Basketball Leadership Podcast episode.

🆇 ICYMI: Mike Tomlin - “Hear Me!”

📋 Practice Planner LIVE: I have used this Practice Planning Software for 13 years! Simple, Practical, and Powerful. Click here for a free 14-day trial.

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