Go after the BIG rocks...

Published: Sun, 05/01/16

Hi

Those of you familiar with the work of Steven Covey have probably seen his fantastic demonstration with the jars, rock and sand he does at his speaking events.

For those of you that haven't it goes like this:

  1. person brought on stage has in front of them: 2 x jars (one with sand in, one empty), several BIG rocks (labelled family, finances, hobbies, faith, rest, body, soul, sleep..these can be labelled with any priority), some gravel and some sand.
  2. jars represent TOTAL time/ resource and energy that we have in our life
  3. person then told to fit all the rocks, gravel into the jar with sand at the bottom. the sand and gravel represent the small tasks and jobs we have to get done, the big rocks those above.
  4. Invariably the person will pour in the gravel, then TRY to put the big rocks in as in the jar on the left above, as you can see they don't all fit.
  5. With some prompting the other empty jar will be pointed out. The penny drops and the person will then put the BIG rocks in FIRST followed by the gravel and sand.
Both the jars above have the same amount of material in them....notice how the left jar fits it all!

Getting the big stuff done FIRST then leaves space in your life to fit in the small stuff!

Doing the small stuff FIRST is often due to procrastination or even fear, we end up out of time and stressed out

DISCIPLINE=FREEDOM

This is a fantastic analogy when used in health. If the jar needs to filled to reach optimal health....what are YOUR big rocks? :

  • fitness (CV): What are the BIG things you can do to get better CV fitness first?
  • nutrition: Any allergies causing inflammation? What are the largest 'naughty' foods you could cut out for the quickest return on your effort i.e. refined sugar?
  • strength: What exercises will strengthen your weaker points first?
  • mobility/ injuries: What needs to be addressed first?
Doing some work on finding what your largest limiting factors are and then going after each one in turn in priority order is proven to form lasting habits for life

Trying to it all at once leads to complexity and this in itself becomes a barrier

Your time and energy is finite so why spend time making the wrong choices?

The time a professional, useful book or online source can save you is more than worth the financial or time investment you will need to commit to.

Remember: 'awesome ' is built one habit by one habit at a time...so make these the BIG rocks!

J

James Chandler
Personal Trainer
07870 262741
www.eatwellandworkout.com


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