Add the Big Rocks First

Recently, I've been fortunate to have an opportunity to start a new position with a new company.  Leaving a great team of people is hard but I'm grateful for the relationships I made and proud of the work we accomplished.  With my new role, I'm further developing myself while being challenged in driving change and growth within a new team - its great!

As you may have noticed, I haven't been posting much over the past 6 weeks.  This isn't a consequence of my new job but rather an intentional plan.

What I'm talking about can be illustrated by a story I'd like to share.  I've heard it presented many different ways but I'll paraphrase - 

There was a professor giving a life lesson to his students.  He had a large glass container that he filled with big rocks to the top and asked his class, "is this container full?"  The class answered yes since no more of the rocks could fit.  "Wrong" said the professor as he then took smaller pebbles and poured them over the top filling the cracks until he could fit no more in.  "Is it full now?" asked the professor.

The students, seeing what the professor was doing, this time said "No."  The professor agreed as he took sand and poured it in to fill the remaining voids.  "How about now; is it full?"  Some of the students thought so but others knew the professor wasn't done yet.  The professor then poured in water and topped it off to the brim.

"What's the purpose of my demonstration?" asked the professor to his class.  One student jumped in, "No matter how much life throws at you, there's always more room."  The professor responded, "That's incorrect."  He reached into the container and pulled out one of the big rocks.  When he tried to put it back in, there was no longer enough room because the pebbles, sand, and water had quickly filled in the void where the big rock had initially been, there was only enough room to fit a few pebbles, sand, and water.

The professor continued, "There will always be something to fill your container, but you must be sure to put the big rocks in first."

So here I am with my big rocks - new job, health/fitness goals, relationships, etc. and a lot of pebbles, sand, and water that will inevitably fill in the voids.  I've consciously identified what my big rocks are and focus on not adding stress when some of the other things don't get done (like the blog).

Do you know what your big rocks are and have you added them first?