You Don’t Need More Time. You Need More Focus.

Some prioritisation techniques to help find focus.

I often catch myself thinking, “I don’t have enough time for that.”

But let’s be honest — that’s not really true.

It’s less about a lack of time and more about a lack of focus.

There’s only so much you can do in a day (sustainably), and it’s impossible to do everything.

There’s always more that could be done.

“You can do anything but not everything.” - David Allen, Getting things done

The real difference lies in what you choose to focus on.

So, how do you make sure you’re focusing on the right things?

Here are four prioritisation models that help me sharpen my focus and multiply my impact:

1. Big Rocks First: Protect What Matters Most

Stephen Covey’s “Big Rocks” analogy is timeless:

• Big Rocks → Your most important priorities (e.g., deadlines, health, relationships, key goals)
• Gravel → Helpful but secondary tasks (e.g., admin work, routine meetings)
• Sand → Low-value distractions (e.g., other peoples to-do’s, busywork)

The Key idea:

If you place the Big Rocks in your schedule first, everything else will fit around them.

If you start with Sand, there will never be space for the important things.

Practical Tip:

Block time for your Big Rocks early in the week.

I plan them in the mornings when I’m most creative — and before my discipline fades.

Brian Tracy’s Eat That Frog principle fits perfectly here:

Tackle your hardest, highest-value task (your "frog") first thing, and the rest of the day feels easier.

2. Eisenhower Matrix: Urgent ≠ Important

Dwight Eisenhower said it perfectly:

“What is important is seldom urgent, and what is urgent is seldom important.”

The Eisenhower Matrix separates tasks into four categories:

• 📌 Do Now → Important + Urgent (crises, immediate deadlines)
• 📝 Plan → Important + Not Urgent (strategic projects, deep work)
• 🔁 Delegate → Not Important + Urgent (admin tasks, interruptions)
• 🗑 Eliminate → Not Important + Not Urgent (distractions, noise)

I use the Eisenhower Matrix to assess my daily and weekly to do’s. In my Notion task list, I add an “Importance” and “Urgency” column to quickly sort tasks into the right quadrant.

Practical Tip:

You want to spend most of your time in the Plan quadrant.Most true Big Rocks live here — long-term strategic work that often gets crowded out.

If you don’t proactively tackle them, they’ll eventually explode into urgent crises. Schedule them and work on them first thing.

How it connects to Big Rocks:

Big Rocks can either be urgent (crisis) or non-urgent (true strategic work).

Over time, I aim to increase the proportion of true Big Rocks.

3. Pareto Principle: Find Your Critical 20%

A powerful tool for assessing the leverage of your actions, The Pareto Principle, or 80/20 rule, says:

20% of your actions produce 80% of your results.

✅ In business: 20% of customers = 80% of profits

✅ In productivity: 20% of tasks = 80% of progress

✅ In problem-solving: 20% of causes = 80% of effects

I use Pareto analysis primarily for problem-solving. Listing causes in a histogram usually shows that just one or two issues drive most of the problems.

From there, I dive deeper — using Level 2 and Level 3 Pareto analysis — to uncover the real root causes. (Let me know if you want me to share a simple breakdown for that too! 😃)

Why it matters:

• Focus: You can’t treat everything equally.
• Impact: Concentrating on the critical few drives faster progress.
• Resource allocation: Invest where it matters most.

Practical Tip:

Apply the Pareto principle to your priorities using Warren Buffett’s 5/25 Rule:

1. List your top 25 priorities.
2. Circle the top 5.
3. Ruthlessly avoid the other 20.

Stay laser-focused on what truly moves the needle.

4. Impact-Effort Matrix: Work Smarter, Not Harder

My go-to tool in workshops and team sessions as it is easily understood:

The Impact-Effort Matrix helps quickly sort where to invest time and resources.

Some tasks are heavy lifts with little payoff.

Others deliver big wins with minimal effort.

How it works:

• Y-axis: Impact (high to low)
• X-axis: Effort (low to high)

Prioritise:

• Easy Wins → High Impact, Low Effort (fast results)
• Big-Bets → High Impact, High Effort (long-term bets)

Avoid or minimise:

• Incremental → Low Impact, Low Effort
• Money Pit → Low Impact, High Effort

Practical Tip:

When running workshops, rate initiatives 1–5 on Impact and Effort. Plot them to quickly spot the high value tasks and avoid time-wasters.

Final Thought

These models help structure your thinking and align your actions with what truly matters — to you, your goals, and your organization.

Stop thinking about time. Start obsessing over focus.

✅ Put the Big Rocks in first.

✅ Prioritize the important before the urgent.

✅ Double down on the critical 20%.

✅ Choose high-impact actions, not busy work.

You have enough time. You just need better focus.

👉 What prioritization models work best for you? Would love to hear in the comments.

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