Ever feel like you’re SO busy all the time, and yet, at the end of the day get nothing accomplished?
Between laundry, dishes, cleaning the house, emails, social media, cooking dinner, and cleaning the house AGAIN, it’s so easy to fill life up with the small, repetitive, mundane tasks. There’s just so much to do. But what about the big things? We tend to leave no room for the things that really matter – the things that can change our lives in the greatest ways.
While studying at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, I watched a time management demonstration called Big Rocks, and let me tell you, it was life changing.
The classic Big Rocks demonstration involves a large jar, small pebbles and “big” rocks. The Institute for Integrative Nutrition’s version involved a large jar, hazelnuts and “big” oranges – it is a nutrition school after all.
In the demonstration, the jar represents life. The space in the jar represents the space that we have in life. The hazelnuts (pebbles) represent small, repetitive, mundane tasks – like laundry or social media scrolling. The oranges (big rocks) represent the big things – things like taking a vacation, date night, taking a class, getting married, having kids, etc.
The demonstrator pours the hazelnuts into the jar. Then, places the oranges on top of the hazelnuts – but they don’t fit. There’s no room for the big things… all the space was filled up with the little things.
Then everything is taken out of the jar and the demonstration is started over. This time, the oranges are made a priority. One orange goes in, then a few hazelnuts get scattered in. Then a couple more oranges, and some more hazelnuts, etc. This time, everything fits.
This time management concept comes from Stephen Covey’s book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.
You can watch a similar demonstration here (a YouTube video by The Art of Manliness).
How to fit it all in
The trick to getting the big things in your life accomplished, is to first know what they are.
What are the top 5, 6, 7 things that you want to get accomplished in your life? Maybe one is to start a family, or to go back to school, or start a business, get fit, etc. Whatever they are, write them down. The universe responds to clarity.
Once you know what these “big rocks” (or “oranges”) are, work towards them every day. Do this before getting to the small stuff. In the end, the small stuff will still fit in.
We’re only given a limited amount of time on this planet. The things that mean the most to you, do those.