What are your ‘Big rocks’?

An expert in time management was speaking to a group of business students and, to drive home a point, used an illustration those students will never forget.

He pulled out a one-litre, wide mouth, jar and set it on the table in front of him. Then, he produced about a dozen big rocks and carefully placed them, one at a time, into the jar. When the jar was filled to the top and no more rocks would fit inside, he asked, “Is this jar full?”

All the students in the class said, “Yes.”

Then he said, “Really?” He reached under the table and pulled out a bucket of gravel. He poured some gravel in, and shook the jar, causing pieces of gravel to work themselves down into the space between the big rocks.

Then he asked the group once more, “Is the jar full?”

By this time the class was on to him. “Probably not,” one of them answered.

“Good!” he replied, reaching under the table and bringing out a bucket of sand.  He started pouring the sand in the jar, and it went into all of the spaces left between the rocks and the gravel. Once more he asked the question, “Is this jar full?”

“No!” the class shouted.

Once again, he said, “Good.” He grabbed a jug of water and began to pour it in, until the jar was filled to the brim.

Then he looked at the class and asked, “What is the point of this illustration?”

One student raised her hand and said, “The point is, no matter how full your schedule is, if you try really hard you can always fit some more things in it!”

“No,” the speaker replied, “that’s not the point, the truth this illustration teaches us is: If you don’t put the big rocks in first, you’ll never get them in at all.”

Big rocks are important tasks, which can’t be ignored. The gravel, sand and water are smaller, more trivial tasks, which can be ‘saved until tomorrow’, if needs be.

What are the “big rocks” in your life? Time with your loved ones? Your faith, your education, your dreams? A worthy cause? Teaching or mentoring others?”

Time management is hugely important, and learning to prioritise your ‘big rocks’, before your ‘sand’ is the key to success.