I spent today thinking about how it is so easy for us to get swayed or distracted from pursuing our purpose or fulfilling our dream. The day to day stuff can creep in and leave little to no room (or energy) to stay motivated and moving forward toward fulfillment of our goals, whether the goal is to get to the gym today or begin writing that long awaited, first chapter of a book. Covey (The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People) offers an analogy of how our day-to-day life is like an empty bucket. There are large stones, which represent the "big items" or the important daily goals, and small stones, which represent all those little tasks and errands and fluff that intrudes on our day. Imagine the stones in two piles next to the bucket. If we try to fill our day with all those little tasks and errands and keep holding off on allowing our large stones access to our day, soon there is no room for the important stuff. The little stones fill up most of the bucket and the large stones have nowhere to go but outside the bucket.

The important thing to keep in mind is fill your bucket (your day) with the things that are most important FIRST, then there will always be room for the smaller stones to slip in and around the big important goals. If tomorrow you want to get to the gym--sit down and allot some time for that goal--don't just expect to fit it in somewhere, because chances are "it ain't gonna happen" on it's own. If you want to move forward, you've got to create some space to move--some breathing room, some room to maneuver, a road map to get you from where you are today a little bit closer to where you want to be one month from today.

So, what are your big rocks you let stay outside your bucket today?

How important is it to you to bring them in?

Of those that are important, maybe, as an experiment, plan out your week on Sunday to allow some space. Then over the course of the next week, be conscious (there I go again with that word!) of when the little rocks are taking precedence and then ask yourself: do I want the little rocks in now or have I made room for my big stone first? On the following Sunday ask yourself how it felt. Did you get more accomplished? Did you feel a greater sense of accomplishment and balance? My guess is you will have experienced more energy and satisfaction with how your week progressed. I'd love to hear your thoughts and experience, feel free to let me know how the experiment went for you!

Begin doing what you want to do now. We have only this moment, sparkling like a star in our hand--and melting like a snowflake.
--Mary Beynon Ray