"Put the Big Rocks in First"

By Kendall Hicks



One day, an expert in time management was speaking to a group of business students. To drive a point home, he used the following life-changing illustration. He stood before the group of high-powered overachievers and said, "Okay, time for a quiz," then he pulled out a one-gallon, wide-mouth Mason jar and set it on the table in front of him. He also produced a dozen fist-sized rocks and carefully placed them, one at a time, into the jar. When the jar was filled to the top he asked, "Is this jar full?"

Everyone in the class yelled, "Yes." The time management expert replied, "Really?" as he reached under the table and pulled out a bucket of gravel. He dumped some gravel in and shook the jar causing pieces of gravel to work themselves down into the spaces between the big rocks. He then 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. He reached under the table and brought out a bucket of sand. He dumped 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." Then he grabbed a pitcher of water and poured it in until the jar was filled to the brim. After this, he asked, "What is the point of this illustration?"

One eager beaver raised his 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!"

What are the "BIG ROCKS" in your life? In other words, what things in your life are most important? Are you allowing the urgency of gravel, sand and water to fill your life before you take time for your family, your spiritual and physical well being and your friends? If we don't put these BIG ROCKS in first, we'll never get them in at all.

E.M. Gray, who spent his life searching for the one denominator that all successful people share, stated that the one factor that seemed to transcend the rest was that successful people put first things first. In other words, successful people begin each day by taking care of the BIG ROCKS before they deal with the gravel, sand and water.




Are the BIG ROCKS in Your Mason Jar?

The Law of the Garbage Truck

One day I hopped in a taxi and we took off for the airport. We were driving in the right lane when suddenly a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us. My taxi driver slammed on his brakes, skidded and missed the other car by just inches! The driver of the other car whipped his head around and started yelling at us. My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. And I mean he was really funny. So I asked, "why did you just do that? That guy almost ruined your car and sent us to the hospital!" This is when my taxi driver taught me what I now call, "The Law of the Garbage Truck."

He explained that many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage, frustration, anger, disappointment. As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it and sometimes they'll dump it on you. Don't take is personally. Just smile, wave, wish them well and move on. Don't take their gargabe and spread it to other people at work, at home or on the streets. The bottom line is that successfull people do not let garbage trucks take over their day. Love the people who treat you right. Pray for the ones who don't. Life is ten percent what you make and ninety percent how you take it.

A co-worker sent this to me and I thought it was good.