The Jar of Rocks: Put What Matters Most in First
Ultimately, it is designed to help you prioritize your schedule, manage your time better, and make sure that the things that matter most to you in this life are getting the proper amount of attention.
Jar of Rocks
Play the original Excel Still More episode here without leaving the article.
The principle
You know the kind you'd pick up if you were going to throw it long distance or skip it across the pond where you could hold several of them in your hand at once. And then the last container has a bunch of tiny pebbles in it, just countless little bitty rocks that fill it to the top.
Now I've seen several videos on this, I've seen it attempted and failed many times, and I don't know what your approach would be, but there is only one way to get it all to fit.
The deeper lesson
Now, if the person who sets up the visual has selected the amount of rocks properly, there's only one way to make it work. That does not look like a good strategy because the jar looks nearly full and all you've put in are large rocks.
But then you take those medium ones, the smaller ones, and you pour them in on top of the large rocks, and they begin to move around and fill in some of those spaces.
What it changes
So I kept putting this off, knowing that I would find a point in time and be able to do it later, not because it isn't important, but because every time I didn't do it, I felt like I was doing something that mattered more. If there's any chance of getting it all in, start with the stuff that matters and then work your way down to the trivial.
And while sometimes the big rock items aren't always enjoyable, I often use the little pebbles, the trivial things, the Netflix show, the Facebook perusing as little rewards, like little meaningless things that I now can do without any guilt at all because everything else came before it.
Live it today
You have just about got everything worked out, it all fits, and then a big rock just doubles in size and changes everything. In his interview, he said sometimes you need to revisit the large rocks, not to get rid of them, but to make sure you are engaging them as efficiently as possible.
In other words, you don't want those big, essential items to be bulky and unnecessarily time consuming.
Take the idea with you.
- 01Where do I see the problem or opportunity described in “The Jar of Rocks: Put What Matters Most in First” in my own life?
- 02What Scripture or spiritual principle in this study most needs my attention?
- 03What one specific change can I make this week to put this teaching into practice?
Prefer listening?
The original episode player is available near the top of this article, so you can listen without leaving the page.