Addendum to today's blog

This is an addition to today's blog. I left out the best part of the "rock" analogy. If you fill your jar with all the little rocks first, there's no room left for the big rocks. If however, you put the big rocks in first, the little rocks will slip in and fill the space remaining. So big rocks first!

Life's Rocky Road

I used to think that I was an organized person and certainly compared to my husband, I am haha. But now it’s more like crisis management all the time and this causes a few problems. First of all, a great deal does get accomplished and I am organized enough, well most of the time anyway, to get the high priority items taken care of on time. However, I think that crisis management indicates that we have too many things on our plates and while we may be skimming the red items at the top of our lists, the “lesser important” blue items (these colors are referring to degrees of need intensity) get moved to the bottom and often ignored. Unfortunately for many of us, the red items which consist of deadlines mostly are ultimately in the grand scheme of things, not that important compared to the blue items below which consist of items of the “stop and smell the roses” ilk or general health and well-being items.

We know we are supposed to put ourselves high on the list to maintain health and sanity. We know our children are growing and learning around us all the time and require our undivided attention and love full-time, not to mention the fact that they won’t be children forever. Our marriages need to be nurtured and appreciated. But the client deadline is tomorrow, the utility bill is due, the emails must be sent to potential kung fu students, everyone is out of underwear and the dog is almost out of food. How do we get around the not-so-important, yet important, red items?

Author Steven Covey makes the suggestion of making a list of your big rocks (long term important items, like exercise, time with your kids) and your little rocks (your daily “to do” list of red items). Fill your jar (or your schedule) with the big rocks first and then the little rocks will fill in the cracks. It sounds great and we get the point, but does that really get it all done? I’m just pondering out loud really, because if I had THE answer, I’d be writing a book about it RIGHT NOW!

So lately, I’m trying to approach it by making sure that everyday has some big rocks in it. So today for instance, I answered my business related emails this morning and prepared the packets to mail to those parties. I started the laundry and made some steel cut oats for everyone. Then I’m taking the kids to the gym for my workout and then the pool for some fun.  After that, kids will practice piano and saxophone and do some reading while my daughter and I make a birthday cake for my husband. I’ll answer emails again, and do some more laundry. The evening is dedicated to celebrating the birth of my wonderful husband 46 years ago – so that’s definitely devotion to a big rock. (That sounded odd,, but let’s move on). It’s still crisis management (mopping? What is that? Caulking the bathtubs? You’re kidding right?) but many things get done, both big and little rocks included. I just have to rotate through the big rocks so that everything gets in there eventually.

So I guess for now I’m saying, be sure to tackle some big rocks everyday for peace and happiness in the long term. Deadlines are met or missed, but your family, your health, your sanity… are the flagstones of your path through life J