Big Rocks
He added gravel. “Is it full?” “Probably not,” said a student. Then he added sand. Again, “Is it full?” By now it was an unanimous, “No!”
Covey grabbed a picture of water and poured it in. He then asked, “What is the point of this illustration?” After rebuking one student’s suggestion, “You can always fit more into the jar,” Covey said, “No, that’s not the point. This illustration teaches us, if you don’t put the big rocks in first, you’ll never get them in at all.”
His lecture was about priorities. Having them in place allows us to make sensible decisions. We live in the twenty-first century, which has seen the creation of innovations that confound and confuse. The Internet, smartphone, social media––and now AI––bombard our daily lives and compound our ability to discern truth from soundbites, mis- and disinformation.
When we have our priorities in place, we have a better chance to sort out this confusion. When we understand our wants and needs and different ways to pursue them, we have a structure for clear thinking. Covey’s metaphor reminds us to keep in place what we care about and value. We do not want to get caught up in mindless surfing and scrolling, scrambling to catch up to ‘what’s next.’
His Big Rocks reminds me when I was a teacher of how important it was for me to know where I was headed with my students––and that they knew it, too. At the same time, it meant that we could diverge together into surprising spaces generating exciting learning.
It is easy to be distracted in today’s culture, thus all the more important to take time to clarify our path and stay with it until we are convinced to change.
One more thought, when we surf the Internet and scroll on our phones being sucked inside social media for hours, we lose site of our priorities. When we spend time away from devices and are face to face with others, we can begin to assess what matters and determine or evaluate the “big rocks” in our lives.
“Is this jar full?” could become a mantra.
Given that “Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forward” (Kierkegaard), I write this Blog to bring ideas and methods from my life as a teacher in the latter half of the 20th century to help teachers and the public to “live forward” in this century.
