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Blog: Minimizing Financial Clutter
 Lessons Learned in 2007: The Big Rocks
I've told this story to countless clients and to a gazillion groups during my years as a professional organizer:
A teacher performed an experiment for her class. She took an empty beaker and filled it to the brim with rocks. Then she asked her class if the beaker was full. The children all agreed that it was full. Then the teacher poured sand into the beaker of rocks, again filling the container to the brim. "Now is it full?" the teacher asked. Again the children answered that it really was full this time. Then the teacher poured water from a pitcher into the beaker of sand and rocks.
This time she asked the class, "What lesson did you learn from this experiment?" One child raised his hand and said, "Oh, I know! It means that, no matter how full your life is, you can always cram one more thing in!"
The teacher chuckled. "Well, I suppose you could interpret it that way. But now let's try the experiment backwards." She filled an empty beaker to the brim with water. "Is it full?" she asked her class. The students said yes. Then the teacher poured sand into the beaker of water. Sandy water spilled out of the beaker. Then she dropped some rocks into the beaker. More sand and water spilled out.
"What happened this time?" the teacher asked the class. "I used the same size beaker, the same number of rocks, and the same amounts of sand and water, but this time they all didn't fit." The same child answered. "Oh, now I get it! This time there wasn't any room for the big rocks because you took up all the room in the beaker with the water. You have to put the big rocks in the container first, or there won't be enough room for them."
Each day is a container that holds 1,440 minutes worth of time. Each of us filled up those containers with something or other. As you look back at 2007, did you fill up those minutes with the big rocks – your true priorities? Or did you fill them so full with sand and water – the less important stuff – that there was no time left for the big rocks?
The good news is that each day brings us a new, empty container. We can choose the things with which to fill it. As you make your New Year's resolutions, make some conscious choices about what your "big rocks" will be in 2008. Write them down and post them where you can see them every day. In each moment of choice between spending your time (or your money) on X versus Y, choose the biggest rock first. If one of your big rocks is to save $X in 2008 for retirement, for example, then feed your savings account before you feed your Starbucks habit. Otherwise, 366 lattes later, your bank account won't be any fatter (but you might be).
May you have a clear set of priorities and the determination to keep your "first things first" in 2008.
posted on: 12/30/2007 11:30:00 AM by Katherine Trezise
category: Finances
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Minimizing Financial Clutter
by Katherine Trezise
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About Katherine:
Katherine Trezise is president of Absolutely Organized, based in Baltimore, MD. She is president-elect of the National Study Group on Chronic Disorganization. Katherine holds a masters degree in business administration, is a Certified Professional Organizer® and a Certified Professional Organizer in Chronic Disorganization®. Absolutely Organized specializes in helping people organize their homes, paperwork and financial records to make room in their lives for the things, people and activities that are most important to them.
Katherine's Website:
www.absolutely-organized.com
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