Why You Want to Put First Things First
In The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey, Habit Three is to Put First Things First. He calls those “first things” our big rocks. If you were to try to fill a glass cylinder with water, sand, rocks, pebbles and big rocks, the only way you could get it all in would be to start with the big rocks, then pour in the pebbles, then gravel and then sand and water. You would never be able to get in the big rocks if you started by filling the container with sand or even water.
How do you determine your big rocks? One way is to see them as your core values. What is most important to you? What makes you just come alive? Be ruthless. I’m pretty sure that binge-watching something on Netflix doesn’t make you come alive. In fact, it’s likely the opposite.
Core Values are things like freedom, family, beauty, love. Learning to put those first things first means you end up living a life that really matters to you, and not a life by default.