After writing  The BIG ROCK Theory (10+ years ago),  people wrote in with comments like:

“Hey Jan! Help! I know what I want my big rocks to be…but I am covered by an avalanche of rocks of all sizes. How do I get rid of them? I can’t ignore them…they are smothering me!  What do I do?”

That same week, an avalanche happened in my world too. I was feeling a bit panicked about it. I knew I could get out of it, IF I could first get rid of the panicky feeling.

I went to a box where I keep special papers that have a calming effect on me. My eyes fell on a magazine page that had been folded 3 times to show an article that took up 1/6 of the page. I remembered the article well. It was from the November 1995 issue of Better Homes and Gardens on a page of snippets put together by Burton Hillis.

Thinking back to November 1995, I remembered the biggest avalanche of my life. I had a telephone conversation with my Dad…can’t remember how much I said…but I knew he knew that it was a tough time. A few days after that conversation, I opened the mail and found this folded up article in an envelope. There was a yellow sticky note on it with a simple message that read, “Thought this might help. Love, Dad”. He had drawn an arrow pointing to the last paragraph.

No lecture. No “I told you so”. Just a message of support.

Here is the article:

Rosemary called from school a couple of weeks ago, grumpy and tired. Exams were piling up and the manager at her part-time job wanted her to work more hours. On top of that, her field hockey team was practicing daily for a tournament.

I wanted to reach through the phone line, give Rosemary a hug, and reassure her all would be OK. Instead, I told her what I do when my plate is full.

“Whenever I have too many jobs to tackle, I line them up in some kind of order and knock them off one at a time. Before I know it, the last one is behind me,” I said.

A few days ago she called to say exams were over, not with perfect scores, but good enough. Her manager is letting her work extra hours on weekends, and her team made it to the finals.

Rosemary thanked me for the advice, but I told her she deserved the credit. She had learned another life lesson: Problems, like the hill in front of you, keep getting smaller the more you advance on them.

What a great companion piece to the BIG ROCK theory!

If you have too many rocks, try lining them up from biggest to smallest, and then take care of them one by one.

Of course, you would do the biggest rock first.

This clipping most likely feels more special to me than it does to you because it came from my Dad at a particularly difficult time. I do hope that it is a helpful message for you. Whether it is or isn’t, perhaps you could pass it on to someone you know who is on overload.

I’m glad my Dad did.

Related Articles:

• Theme for the Week:  BIG ROCKS
• Quote of the Week:  Do the BIG ROCKS 1st!
• 10 Tips for Mastering BIG ROCKS
• Brainteaser of the Week #42
• Movie of the Week:  Mastering BIG ROCKS
• AND what a nice seguey into…..our Theme for the Week:  There’s NO Way!

• Theme for the Week: On Doing Too Much
• Theme for the Week: Stop the Busy-ness
• Theme for the Week: Leaving Things Undone
• Theme for the Week:  BIG ROCKS 

Note: If you are a manager – wanting to take charge, make things happen and inspire your team to do the same – here’s a shortcut to info on our coaching programs

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