The Journal
What Are Your Big Rocks? Priorities for a Full Life
If your life feels filled to the brim, the problem is rarely the size of the jar. In “Stop the Chaos,” Maggie shows how naming your big rocks — and putting them in first — makes room for more than you thought you had.
From Maggie’s video “Stop the Chaos”
Why does my week feel full before it even starts?
Most weeks feel full because the small things went in first. Maggie compares it to a jar already filled with water: it looks like nothing else can fit. So many people, she says, feel filled to the max — and they can’t fit anything else in unless they choose to plan accordingly.
She frames the whole video around a familiar saying: a goal without a plan is only a wish. Feeling overwhelmed isn’t a character flaw. It’s usually a sign that the week was arranged by default instead of by design. The fix isn’t a bigger jar or a longer day — it’s changing the order things go in.
What are “big rocks” in time management?
Big rocks are the things that matter most to you — the priorities that deserve a place in your week before anything else. In the video, Maggie names examples:
- Your faith
- Your family
- Your career
- Your passive income
- Your learning and personal development
- Your dreams and travel — anything that inspires you to be better today than you were yesterday
- Your health and exercise goals
What goes in the jar after the big rocks?
After the big rocks come the systems that support them — and then the extras. Once the rocks are in, the jar looks full, but it isn’t. Maggie’s next layer is routine: prayer and meditation, the specific times you carve out for exercise and walking, drinking more water — the habits you know will bring greater health.
Add those, and there is still room. The extras of life fit after that. Maggie’s phrase for this is caring enough to prepare and plan: when you do, you can fit in other things. What she emphasizes is who arranged it: the week becomes yours by your own design, not because someone else decided it for you.
“It was by your design, not by someone else’s telling you what to do, how to do it, and when to do it.”
How do I decide which of my priorities comes first?
Order them by your values, not by urgency. Maggie teaches from a planning sheet where you design your own schedule, and it fits your values and priorities. She shares her own order as an example, not a rule:
- Herself and her faith first — the routines that open and close her day, her prayer, meditation, exercise and movement, and how she learns and grows before she teaches others.
- Her family next, starting with her husband — date nights, dates with the kids, and time alone, because a child’s love language could be quality time.
- Her business, color-coded green, because it brings her the greatest growth and opportunity. For you, this might be your job or your education.
- The “extra” — passive income, a business you’re growing, a hobby, volunteering.
Your order may look different. The exercise is getting specific about what you value, how you value it, and what you want to be part of your life.
“It doesn’t happen by chance. It happens by choice and how you lay that out.”
What if my plan falls apart in the middle of the week?
You pivot — the plan is there so you can adjust, not so you never have to. Maggie is honest that the week never looks perfect; she recorded this very video because she’d had a change with a client. Changes happen.
That is why she plans on Sunday: to prepare, to see where modifications might be needed, and to have a backup plan ready. Each week will look different, and that’s expected.
What should my weekly goals look like?
Keep them short and split them in two: three business goals and three personal focuses. At the bottom of her weekly sheet, Maggie asks two questions — what are my three business goals this week, and what are my three personal focuses this week? Being specific on both sides keeps work from quietly swallowing the rest of your life. And because each week is going to look different, the goals are reset every Sunday rather than written once and forgotten.
“You can achieve more than you realize when you plan ahead and take the time to see a week at a glance.”
Questions people ask
- What is the big rocks method?
- It’s a way of planning your time by placing your biggest priorities first — like rocks in a jar — so routines and smaller tasks fit around them instead of crowding them out.
- What are examples of big rocks?
- In her video, Maggie lists faith, family, career, passive income, learning and personal development, dreams and travel, and health and exercise goals.
- How many weekly goals does Maggie recommend?
- Three business goals and three personal focuses, written at the bottom of the weekly plan and set on Sunday.