Where to place the Big Rocks

 

"Now your job is to get those big rocks in the jar," Stephen Covey said as he swiped his hand above the jar. She, a director of an international firm, named Elizabeth stared looking puzzled. She has a great proficiency in balancing both her personal and work life. Additionally, she's married but doesn't have children. This leads to the question he asks her, does she sometimes feel overwhelmed by all the various aspects of her life, as predicted, she answers with a yes. 

There are two jars in front of them, one containing pebbles and the other empty. Elizabeth attempts to forcefully squeeze in the large rocks, but she fails to do so. Covey gives her the solution to remove all the big rocks and place them in the empty jar, then pour in all the tiny pebbles, which should work out. When she did so, it did actually work out. 

A lesson learnt from this short video is that one should start by filling their life with the biggest, most important tasks, like children, work, family etc. Then the small ones come in, which are less important like the day-to-day matters. It has shown a great transformative impact on the way I approach time management. And it's a guiding principle that emphasizes the need to organize my life prioritizing the significant tasks from the smaller tasks that I always unintentionally delve into. If it was the other way around, as she did in the beginning, we wouldn't be able to fit everything in. This is the best way to easily manage your time wisely. 

In this world that supports multitasking, Covey's lesson stands out as a call to take deliberate and focused action to cleverly focus on a strategy for time management. It refutes the concept that superiority is synonymous with constant activity and emphasizes the necessity of carefully choosing a path in their life. The huge rocks substitute as a metaphor that allows people to distinguish between what truly is important factors that contribute to their overall well-being and temporary, minor factors that frequently occupy attention 

This has come to show a great profound influence on my life. I've learnt that I should prioritize the significant tasks then once those are over, I turn to the small tasks. For example, when there are tests and CPTs, I should give these priorities and after I've studied and completed this work, I will turn over to an assignment I have. This is the most effective way to conclude the video and what one should do in order to have great time management skills. 

To wrap things up, people should always remember to organize and prioritize what's actually important, as Morrie Schwartz said, "The most important thing in life is to learn how to give out love, and to let it come in." (Albom, 52). Just like Morrie, we should always have the same ideology. One should focus on what matters first like in this case love, then start looking at what the less important.