The Big Rocks

I remember one of my favorite attendings telling me this story during residency.  Since then, I’ve heard different variations, but the overall point really struck me and stuck with me all these years.  It’s something I remind myself from time to time when I feel like things don’t seem right.

In the story, a teacher pulls out a large jar, 5 big rocks and a bottle of sand.  She asks a student to come up and transfer the rocks and the sand into the jar.  The student pours the sand into the jar but is only able to fit 3 of the rocks.  The other two can’t fit no matter how hard the student tried to shove it in.  The teacher then asks another student.  The second student places the 5 big rocks into the jar first and then pours the sand into the jar.  Everything fits perfectly.  As you may have guessed already, the big rocks represent the priorities in your life.  Perhaps it’s family, friends, your well-being or career.  The sand represents all the smaller things in life that may seem super important in the heat of the moment.  If you constantly prioritize the small things, you may never have room (or time) left for the big things in your life.  And by the time you realize that, it may be too late. 

What and who are the big rocks in your life?  What do you truly care about?  Are you making it a priority?  Are you doing that things that you claim to care about?

Or are you letting the small things that come up day to day hijack what you truly want to devote your time to?  Are you prioritizing something in theory but have the baseline guilty feeling (like having a small pebble in your shoe) that you should be giving more of your time?

If any of this resonates with you, just know that you are not alone.  Just letting this story sink in and recognizing it in your own life, can be the first step to making a positive change. 

Priya