As 2012 has begun, I’ve been doing a lot of assessing, thinking, praying, and planning. What do I want this year to look like? What do I want things to look like 5 years from now? What kind of legacy am I leaving? What am I doing on a daily basis that will impact others? In the midst of all this thinking, I picked up a new day planner, since I must have a place to write down all my appointments, etc. In the front of the planner, there is a story that I’ve heard many times, but it really got me thinking. It’s the story about the bucket, the big rocks, the gravel, and the water. Maybe you’ve heard it, but if not, you can go check out this video, which provides a great illustration.
The moral of the story is this: put the big rocks in first. Your bucket is the 24 hours you have in a day. The big rocks are the priorities – the things that really matter to you in life. The gravel is the less important stuff, the distractions of life, that tend to bog us down. The water is the overflow – things that come up at the last minute, perhaps. The issue is, if you put in the water and the gravel first, you’ll never fit the big rocks in. But if you put the big rocks in first, then the gravel, and then the water, it will all fit.
As I’ve been thinking about this, I’ve decided something. I’m not really doing new year’s resolutions. Instead, I’m determining what my “big rocks” are, and making an effort to really put those things into my day, my week, my month FIRST. Before all the other distractions. I really love this concept, because I think it helps us to keep in mind the big picture. It’s easy to get bogged down with little things, that at the end of the day, month, or year, are not really going to matter at all. So if instead we write down and plan out what our big rocks are, we are more likely to spend our time focused on those. There still needs to be time for the gravel too, and the water. But by putting the big rocks in first, you won’t be sacrificing the most important things for the urgent things.
So, what are your big rocks? Are you making the time for them?
So timely…my big rocks are time for myself…to read, write, make photographs…time with my husband and family (including walking my dog for both of us to stay healthy!). The gravel….that’s the stuff that I’m so easily distracted by (facebook and tv) AND it’s the stuff I’m cutting out almost entirely during the month of January. I need a system reboot, a refresher for my spirit.
I love this analogy, and hopefully I can remember what the “big rocks” are all year round.
By: Naomi Figueroa on January 9, 2012
at 6:47 pm