Chapter 9 of Hyrum W. Smith’s What Matters Most, “Make It So,” turns its attention to the final level of the Personal Productivity Pyramid: action. Discovering what matters provides direction, and planning creates a path, but neither produces results until a person chooses to act.
Smith introduces this idea through a story from his time at Officer Candidate School. He and his staff were given a seemingly impossible assignment: prepare three long-abandoned barracks for a new class arriving Monday morning. The buildings needed extensive repairs, cleaning, painting, and new fixtures. Although the group initially doubted it could be done, they made a plan, gathered help and worked through the weekend. By Monday morning, the barracks were ready.
The experience demonstrated the power of accepting responsibility for an outcome. The group did not begin with certainty about how every problem would be solved. They began by deciding that the work would be done, then identified the resources, people and actions required to accomplish it.
Important or Merely Urgent?
Taking action is not simply a matter of staying busy. The chapter makes an important distinction between activities that are urgent and those that are truly important.
Urgent tasks demand immediate attention. A ringing phone, an approaching deadline or an unexpected request can quickly take control of the day. Important activities may be quieter. They include nurturing relationships, maintaining health, preparing for the future and working toward meaningful goals. Because these activities do not always insist on immediate attention, they are easily postponed.
The challenge is that urgency can feel like importance. Responding to a crisis creates an immediate sense of productivity, while progress toward a long-range goal may feel less dramatic. Over time, however, repeatedly choosing the urgent can leave little room for what matters most.
Smith encourages readers to pause long enough to classify the demands on their time. Some tasks are both urgent and important and should be handled promptly. Others may feel pressing without contributing much to a person’s deeper priorities. Learning to recognize the difference makes it possible to respond intentionally instead of simply reacting to whatever appears next.
Place the Big Rocks First
To illustrate this principle, Smith uses the familiar example of filling a jar with rocks, pebbles, sand and water. The large rocks represent the activities connected to what matters most. The pebbles and sand represent the smaller tasks that fill daily life.
If the jar is filled with small items first, there may be no room left for the large rocks. When the large rocks are placed first, however, many of the smaller items can fit around them.
The metaphor is simple, but its implications are significant. Time for meaningful priorities rarely appears on its own. It must be reserved before less important demands claim the available space.
This is why Smith recommends a weekly planning session. Rather than waiting to see what the week brings, readers can review their values, roles and long-range goals; identify the most important actions for the coming week; record fixed commitments; and schedule the “big rocks” before filling the remaining time with smaller tasks.
This approach does not require every minute to be occupied. Smith also recognizes the value of leaving room for the unexpected, for rest and for smaller activities that make life enjoyable. The purpose is not to create a rigid schedule, but to ensure that the most important priorities are not continually displaced.
Choosing in the Moment
Even the best weekly plan cannot make decisions on a person’s behalf. Action still takes place in what Smith calls the moment of choice.
A thoughtfully planned priority may compete with interruptions, distractions or a more convenient option. Smith describes the focus needed in these moments as “Laser Thinking”—the ability to concentrate attention on what matters and cut through the surrounding clutter.
This kind of focus grows from clarity. When people understand their values and know why a particular activity matters, they are better prepared to follow through. The plan serves as a reminder of decisions already made rather than forcing those decisions to be reconsidered every time a distraction appears.
Moving Through Fear
The chapter also acknowledges the inner resistance that often appears after a meaningful decision has been made. Doubt may suggest that a goal is unrealistic, that change will be uncomfortable or that failure would be too painful.
Smith presents fear of failure as one of the strongest barriers to action. Avoiding a goal may prevent disappointment, but it also prevents learning and progress. Failure becomes less threatening when it is viewed as part of growth rather than proof that someone should stop trying.
Small victories can help weaken that fear. Completing one meaningful task, keeping one commitment or taking one step beyond a familiar comfort zone builds confidence for the next attempt. Action creates experience, and experience gradually makes future action easier.
“Make It So” ultimately reminds readers that productivity is not measured by the number of tasks completed. Its deeper purpose is to bring values, goals and daily behavior into alignment. The most meaningful plans are fulfilled through repeated choices to place the big rocks first, focus in the moment and continue moving forward—even when success is not guaranteed.
Questions for Discussion
- Why can urgent tasks feel more important than they really are?
- Which important but nonurgent areas of life are easiest to postpone?
- What are the current “big rocks” that deserve protected time?
- How could a weekly planning session help connect long-range goals with daily action?
- Does leaving open space in a schedule support productivity or make distraction more likely?
- What commonly interferes during the moment of choice?
- How does clarity about personal values make decisive action easier?
- Why might an unwritten or unattempted goal feel safer than one that could fail?
- What small victory could create momentum toward something that matters most?
