A university professor took a large jar and filled it with large rocks. “Is the jar full?” she asked her class.
They agreed that the jar was full.
The professor took a handful of small pebbles and dropped them into the jar. She gave the jar a shake and the pebbles slid into the gaps between the large rocks. “Now is the glass full?” she asked.
The students again agreed that the jar was full.
This time the professor took a container of sand and poured the sand into the jar. The sand slid through the gaps and filled the jar to the top.
“This time is the jar full?” the professor asked.
Most of the class agreed that it was, although a few held out, unsure what else the professor may have up her sleeve.
The professor grinned, took her coffee and poured the liquid into the jar. It soaked into the sand.
“I’d like to explain the significance of this experiment,” the professor said. “The jar represents the amount of time you have in any given week. The rocks — large and small — and the sand, represent the tasks you need to complete. The size of the objects represent their importance. Thus, the sand represents the large number of trivial tasks in your life, the small pebbles are more important, but not critical, and the large rocks are the highest priority tasks you have.
“If you focus on the unimportant things first, filling your jar up with sand, then there is no way you will have space left for the big rocks”.
She took another jar, half filled it with sand, and then dropped some large rocks in. Only a few rocks fit inside the jar.
“However,” continued the professor, “if you take care of the big rocks first, you’ll always have a bit of spare space to deal with other non-important matters.”
A student put up his hand. “What about the coffee?” he asked.
The professor smiled. “No matter how full your schedule is,” she replied, “there is always room for a good coffee.”
I first learnt about Big Rocks from one of my managers who always included an agenda item on our monthly meeting for Big Rocks in order to ensure that we had a discussion about the most important things every month.
I incorporated this technique into my own workflow by drawing up and regularly reviewing a short list of Big Rocks. My Big Rocks include my most important items at work, as well as any important personal goals. I try to keep the number of Big Rocks relatively small — I find four to six to be a good number at work, and a similar number outside of work. At the start of each week, I review the list and determine what progress or action I wish to complete against each Big Rock during the week ahead. I write down the action against the Big Rock and block out a time in my calendar to complete the action. Assuming I hold myself accountable to complete these tasks, it means I have set time aside for the most important items in my life.
Having done this, I know that any other items can be accepted into any gaps remaining in my schedule, because, regardless of what happens, I will make progress against each of my Big Rocks during the week. Every week when I review the Big Rocks, I also take a couple of minutes to consider if they are still relevant, and also, if there are any Big Rocks that should be added to the list.
For more information about this hack, consider my post “Which goals to pursue”, which provides some considerations about how I choose my Big Rocks.
