Success comes from making good choices about what to do and what NOT to do. Often our biggest breakthroughs occur when we decide to stop doing something. So here’s something we can all put on our Don’t Do List that will change our lives positively forever: STOP discussing the past!

It’s history. Its only value is in what you can learn to help you make better decisions in the present.

To help you manage the complexity of your business and all of the “stuff” going on, I highly recommend the discipline of choosing only one of three options for any problem, idea, commitment, or opportunity, i.e., “stuff.”

Mastering the art of compartmentalizing will help you free up energy and time for yourself, your team, and your company – while maximizing your efficiency and productivity. You'll execute better, become more efficient, and FOCUS your team's energy.

Rocks are just priorities — the 3 to 7 most important things you must accomplish in the next ninety days. Company rocks are priorities for the company, departmental rocks are priorities for your department, and individual rocks are priorities for you or another individual. As simple as that sounds, it’s easy to overcomplicate rocks.

There is no magic formula for what constitutes a rock— it’s simply a priority that will take longer than 7 days (those action items are To-Dos) and up to ninety days to complete.

Here are a few questions I get asked often in sessions, with corresponding answers.

In Why Millennials Will Love EOS® - Part 1 we said that millennials, who were raised in a different time than we Boomers and Gen-Xers, think differently. They have very specific expectations for information and for their work environments. TheVision/Traction Organizer™ and the Accountability Chart provide the vision, big picture, and culture that millennials need to understand and to be engaged.

Over the last few months, I’ve been hearing a common theme among my clients. They keep saying, “I have a day job and a Rock job.” At first that confused me a little bit. Then I realized that one of two things is true. One possibility is that we chose the wrong Rocks for the quarter. The second possibility is that the team member is spending most of their time on useless activities.