A leadership team was reviewing their Rocks from last quarter. They’d completed six out of seven—solid execution by most standards.
But when I asked what progress they’d made toward their annual goals, the room got quiet. One leader finally said, “These just felt like our regular jobs. Did we actually move the business forward?”
They’d done the work and checked the boxes. But completing their Rocks didn’t feel like winning—it felt like treading water.
The Frustration: When Priorities Feel Like Your Day Job
Here’s the complaint I hear regularly from leadership teams:
“Our Rocks just feel like busy work. They’re projects we have to do anyway. They overlap with our regular responsibilities. Where’s the strategic progress?”
This frustration shows up in different ways:
- Rocks that could have been on the list any quarter
- Priorities that feel more like maintenance than momentum
- Completing Rocks without feeling like the business actually moved forward
- Team members saying “isn’t this just my job?”
When Rocks feel this way, they drain energy instead of focusing it. Teams check boxes without feeling progress. Leaders complete their Rocks and wonder if they spent their time on what actually mattered.
This is a real problem—not just because it’s demotivating, but because it means your team’s energy is being spent on the wrong things.
The Root Cause: Treating the Symptom, Not the Disease
When Rocks feel tactical, most teams try to fix the Rocks themselves. They workshop better wording, add more detail, make them “SMART-er.”
But that’s treating a symptom.
Here’s what I tell teams: If your Rocks feel like busy work, you have an issue to solve. And like any Issue, you need to dig deeper to find the root cause.
Rocks are meant to give your team three things:
- Focus – clarity on the 3-7 most important priorities this quarter
- Discipline – the ability to say no to everything else
- Accountability – clear ownership of strategic results
When they’re not doing that, something upstream is broken.
Nine times out of ten, when I dig with a team, I find one of two root causes:
First: The Rocks were set without the context of your longer-term vision and 1-Year Plan. The team jumped straight to “what should we work on this quarter?” without clarity on where they’re going. So they default to tactical projects—things that feel important in the moment but don’t connect to strategic direction.
Second: The Rocks were set with that context, but mid-quarter, everyone forgot. They set good Rocks in quarterly planning, but then got pulled back into the day-to-day. Leaders stopped taking Clarity Breaks. They stopped maintaining perspective on what they said was most important. They literally forgot why they chose those Rocks in the first place.
And here’s what happens: issues surface. Fires pop up. Urgent requests come in. Without getting a regular perspective on what’s most important, these issues cloud judgment. Leaders start questioning whether their Rocks still matter. They start working on whatever feels most pressing instead of what’s most strategic.
By the time they review Rocks at the end of the quarter, maybe they’ve completed them—but only because they happened to align with their day job, not because the team stayed disciplined about strategic priorities.
The Real Work: Vision, Discipline, and Weekly Perspective
Here’s how to fix it.
Start with the Vision/Traction Organizer (VTO). Your VTO—specifically your 10-Year Target, 3-Year Picture, and 1-Year Plan—creates the context for great Rocks.
When you’re clear on where you’re going in 3 years and what needs to be true by the end of this year, your quarterly Rocks become obvious. You’re not asking “what should we work on?”—you’re asking “what are the 3-7 most important things we need to accomplish this quarter to make progress on our 1-Year Plan?”
That’s a completely different question. And it produces completely different Rocks.
Good Rocks aren’t about what’s urgent or what feels important to individual departments. They’re about what moves the company toward its vision. They’re for the greater good—in support of where you’ve agreed you’re going.
Use your Level 10 Meeting to maintain discipline. Once you’ve set Rocks, you need weekly discipline to stay focused on them.
In your 90-minute Level 10 Meeting, you review Rock status every single week. Not just “are we on track?”—but “what issues are getting in the way of this Rock moving forward?”
When issues surface that threaten your Rocks, you use IDS (Identify, Discuss, Solve) to address them. You don’t let issues pile up until quarterly review. You solve them weekly so your Rocks keep moving.
This is where most teams lose their way. They set Rocks in quarterly planning, then don’t look at them again until the next quarterly. By then, it’s too late. The discipline happens weekly, not quarterly.
Take Clarity Breaks to maintain perspective. Here’s the practice that separates leaders who stay focused from leaders who get pulled in every direction:
Weekly Clarity Breaks. Thirty minutes to step back and ask: Where are we going? What did we say was most important this quarter? What am I allowing to get in my way?
Without this weekly reset, leaders forget their own priorities. They get pulled into whatever’s loudest. They lose perspective on why they chose those Rocks in the first place.
A Clarity Break reminds you. It’s not about solving problems—it’s about maintaining clarity on what matters so you can make better decisions about where to spend your energy.
Review and reset every quarter. At the end of each quarter, review your Rocks with your team. Ask two questions:
- How did we do in predicting where our human energy would be best spent?
- What got in the way?
This isn’t about blame—it’s about learning. Did you choose the right priorities? Did you stay disciplined? What issues kept pulling you off track? What do you need to do differently next quarter? And remember to celebrate your successes – that positive reflection will be the fuel for results next quarter and beyond!
Then set new Rocks for the next 90 days based on what you learned and where your 1-Year Plan needs you to focus next.
The System: It All Works Together
Here’s what this looks like in practice:
You use your VTO to get clear on your 10-Year Target, 3-Year Picture, and 1-Year Plan. This creates the strategic context.
Every quarter, you set 3-7 Rocks that move you toward those 1-Year goals. These are your most important priorities—not your only work, but your most important work.
Every week in your Level 10 Meeting, you review Rock status and IDS any issues getting in the way. This keeps the team focused and accountable.
Every week, leaders take a Clarity Break to maintain perspective on what’s most important, what they might be avoiding, and what they’re allowing to distract them.
When you do this consistently, Rocks stop feeling like busy work. They become what they’re meant to be: strategic priorities that focus your team’s energy on what actually moves the business forward.
Your team completes them and feels real momentum. They can see the connection between their work and where the company is going. They know their energy is being spent on things that matter.
And at the end of the quarter, when you review what you accomplished, it doesn’t just feel like you checked boxes—it feels like you built something.
Are your Rocks moving your business forward or just keeping you busy? Let’s talk about how to get clear on your vision and build the discipline to stay focused on what matters. Schedule a conversation with me.