An Effective Prioritization Framework

If you're reading this, you're likely juggling several responsibilities at the same time. Allow me to share a powerful framework that has helped me effectively prioritize both my professional and personal life – the "Life Jar Theory." This theory illustrates how to focus on our most important priorities, or "Big Rocks," first before fitting in smaller tasks.

What's the theory behind it?

The Life Jar Theory is about placing the Big Rocks first. Stephen Covey popularized this concept in his renowned book "First Things First" (which also popularized the Eisenhower matrix... but that's a separate post). Covey encourages us to envision our time and energy as a jar, with the Big Rocks representing our primary priorities (family, health, career, etc.). The pebbles, sand, and water symbolize the other activities that fill our days (emails, chores, social media, etc.). The crux of the lesson is to put the Big Rocks first, then fit the smaller items around them. Otherwise, if you start with pebbles and sand, the rocks won't fit, leaving important things behind.

This theory highlights another essential truth: there's always room for more, even when it seems impossible. To illustrate this, a professor fills a jar with golf balls (big rocks), initially appearing full. Yet, as the professor adds pebbles, sand, and even beer, the jar accommodates more than anticipated. The profound lesson? While prioritizing the Big Rocks is key, the jar of life is far from full. It serves as a reminder that even in life's apparent fullness after prioritizing the Big Rocks, there's always space for other activities and joys, like sharing a couple of beers with friends. [side note: for years, I incorporated this video as part of my live trainings; take 3 minutes to view it]

How to use the Life Jar Theory?

1. Starting point: If you follow this theory, you might identify Big Rocks such as "Family," "Work," "Health," etc. Although this is a good first step, I do believe you can go deeper.

2. Choose 5 Big Rocks and frame them as SMART Goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-Based). Instead of your Big Rocks being "Health," or "Family," you’ll have ones like "Exercise 4 times a week," or "Have an electronics-free family dinner 5 times a week".

3. Apply the same principles to work: Determine 5 Big SMART Rocks, making one focused on developing yourself (and your organization). This could be something like "Get X hours of training every quarter".

4. Audit your time and money. With your 5 Big Rocks identified, assess how much of your current time and money is allocated to each. This will unveil any misalignments. For instance, you might say that Self-development is crucial yet you have not attended a single training so far this year, or are unwilling to pay for coaching.

My personal thoughts:

First, sometimes the rocks conflict. For example, wanting quality family time and being a CEO, or wanting to eat healthily while choosing a job that requires dining out. The truth is, we sometimes navigate life on autopilot, failing to audit our decisions based on our purported Big Rocks. We claim to care about one thing, then make life decisions (job, career, spouse) that prevent us from doing what we claim to value. The key is intentionality - audit frequently.

Second, our jars NEED pebbles and sand. I know the whole "hustle culture" demonizes everything that is not a Big Rock. However, it is OK for our Jars to feel imbalanced for a given period of time (e.g. working too late, or partying too hard). The key is again is intentionality; otherwise, it is a weird paradox to be doing things for pure joy, and then filling guilty about them. I believe our Life Jars shouldn't be measured daily or weekly. It’s all about zooming out, having a balanced Jar in the long-run (like the image below suggests).

Jarringly,

Jorge Luis Pando

"I am not a product of my circumstances. I am a product of my decisions." - Stephen R. Covey

PS: If you have 10min, this video from Covey himself is a true gem!