EMILY (00:08)

So that's the origin. Now, let's talk about why. Why is it helpful for us to set objectives for our work in the first place? There is a fantastic time management analogy and Steven Covey's seven Habits of Highly Effective.

Covey explains that our days are like a glass jar filled with rocks and pebbles. There are the important things in our lives, the big rocks that we absolutely want to make space for. Then there are smaller pebbles and sand, less important, but still essential. If you want to make everything fit inside your jar, you need to start by putting the biggest rocks in first.

But if you fill the jar with sand and pebbles first, the smaller and less important work. You're not going to have any room for the rocks. Which are your most important objectives. Focus on what's most important first and everything else will fit around it.

This is a practice called management by objective. Some businesses even call this the Rocks model in honor of the original story, and it's one of the early predecessors of OKRs as we know it today. The same time management logic that you would apply to your workday also can be applied to longer term goals. Let's say that you have a big goal you want to hit this quarter.

When you set that as your primary objective, then day in and day out, over the next three months, it becomes an anchor to help you focus on those milestones first. Without an objective, it becomes easy to get swept up in the less important work. But when you focus on only 1 to 3 major objectives, you're going to get more done and feel great about your progress.