Hey , guys , and welcome back to another episode of your Brain's Coach podcast . My name is Angela Shurina , I'm your host , I'm your Brain's Coach and it is my job here to bring to you all the best recent , cutting-edge , well-researched , applicable and most effective sometimes also fun brain body work tools so you could take better control of your emotions , of your thoughts , of your work but , most importantly , that drives it all of your actions . So you could get out there and create the life experience that you absolutely thrill to be living . Today , guys , it is Monday on this side and we're talking about priorities . Today , this morning , I woke up and I'm like , oh my God , I have so much to do to hit my goals in 10 years . Like literally , sometimes I wake up that way , but then also you realize there are things that you got to do this week , so you move your agenda forward this month and next month . Weeks , so you move your agenda forward this month and next month . Right , there is this sense of urgency and sometimes it's just like pumping it up too much . I woke up and I'm like all these things got to do , but then I remind myself that all the important things there are not that many , and all the fluff , like answering every single email and doing every single idea that is on my head . That is just fluff , that doesn't matter , and when you give it a little bit of time , the right things persist and all the fluff goes away . You know a few emails not answered . Well , that didn't end up to anything anyhow , and the things that would end up to something would pop up on your path again and again and again . That's not to say that you got a delay , but letting it rest for a little bit .
Speaker 1If you are someone like myself who tends to jump into doing things , then this is for you . Let it sit there for a couple of days , sometimes for a week , and if it surfaces again and again , that means there might be something . Things that work have this quality of persisting in life and in the world . Also , advice for a business owner If you have all these ideas all the time and you're jumping from one thing to the other and everything seems to be equally important and attractive , this is also a practice for you . Let it sit , and if you forget about it in a week because you got a ton of other ideas , that's probably for the good .
Speaker 1So , as I woke up today thinking about all the things that I got to do . As I woke up today thinking about all the things that I got to do , I realized I need to actually take time and sit down and work on my prioritization , not jumping into doing all the stuff , because doing all the stuff doesn't always add up to all the stuff that you want to have in life . Not only that , but it steals the time , the energy , the resources from things that actually matter . If you try to just jump in and do all of it , attack all of the things on your to-do list without any prioritization , when you prioritize , you have the ability to move the big rocks in your life forward , while all the rest , all the small stuff , very often magically fits in as well , the options we don't consider . That is the theme of today's email and it's all about priorities .
Speaker 1You know , there is this famous I believe Stanford , but don't quote me on that a professor who , in front of his students , wanted to make a point about prioritization . One of his students wanted to make a point about prioritization and so he did this experiment , or tripping over the truth kind of learning for his students . By the way , this is the best way to teach adults anything , make them or help them discover the aha moment for themselves . So I'm going to tell you a story about the experiment . It's called rocks , pebbles and sand . So the professor was trying to make a point about prioritization . He brought this big glass jar and a bunch of rocks , small pebbles and sand and he took the jar , put it on the desk and started putting rocks , big rocks in it . So he put all the big rocks to fill in the jar and he asked students , do you think the jar is full ? And the students told him yeah , it is full .
Speaker 1And then the professor took the small pebbles and started putting them in the same jar with these big rocks . And , by the way , if you want to have the visuals , just google rocks , pebbles and sand or you can join my newsletter , the link to which is in the show notes rocks , pebbles and sand . So the professor filled in the jar with big rocks and he asked if it was full . The student said yes . He put in the pebbles and mixed it up a little bit , shook the jar so the pebbles could go in all the smaller places in between the rocks . So he filled the jar again to the top with the pebbles , as many as he could fit in . And he asked the students again do you think the jar ? Is the jar full right now ? And the students said yes , it is full . And then he did the third thing he took the sand and started just putting it in the jar and putting and putting in . Quite a lot of sand fit in . And he asked the laughing students again do you think the jar is full now ? And the students said yes , it is .
Speaker 1And the point that he was trying to make when first we work on fitting in the big rocks of our lives , our family , our work , our health , and then we work on the pebbles , all the emails and certain social commitments that don't really adapt to the quality of relationships , and then when we put the sand in in the remaining spaces that might be your social media or emails that you really don't need to be answering , but just in case , when we put all this stuff , when we start with big rocks first , all of a sudden a lot of things start fitting in . But not only that . You actually start moving your life , your work , your relationships , your health forward in a meaningful way . And all of a sudden you realize , just like I realized this morning , I have the time to do the big things and , yes , I don't have the time to do all of it and work on every single idea and go to every single meeting and answer to every single email . I don't have time for that , but I do have all the time in the world to move the important things forward and it was a good reminder . I watched the video that is also in my newsletter . You can sign up when you go to the end of the show notes . There is a signup link for my newsletter . Also , you can just Google or chat GPT , rocks , pebbles , sand there is a really nice one-minute video on YouTube .
Speaker 1So when you work on big things , all of the things tend to fit in Well , not all of them . Some emails still will not be answered , but , most importantly , you will have the feeling of fulfillment and meaning and progress in your life that so many of you might be missing because you do all of these small things . That at the end of the day , at the end of the month , week and year , you will ask yourself where did all my time go ? You will ask yourself where did all my time go and all those hours of Netflix and YouTube ? They just don't add up to anything meaningful , anything you can somehow touch and remember and see in your life . But then also , I always remind my clients and everyone and all the leaders that I work with and teams you have a lot more time to also move big rocks of your life forward with small things .
Speaker 1You might say often or I don't have time , you know I want to exercise , but my schedule is packed . Or I'd love to sleep more , but here is too much to do and I wish I could study and grow my career business , but my days are already full , and grow my career business , but my day's already full . And yet many of us somehow find hours of Netflix , youtube , social media , sometimes in one binge , more often than not snacking throughout the whole day , feeling all the small times when it's hard for you to focus or when we don't have the answers right away . We fill it all in and never actually move the things that are meaningful forward because it requires a little bit of friction , a little bit of push . Then we say we don't have time to meditate and then struggle to focus at work and in our lives while studying and ironically , meditation improves focus and helps you to get more done in less time . Meditation also Sorry for for my voice need to hydrate . Ironically , meditation has been proven to improve the clarity of your thought and your ability to prioritize , so you get more meaningful stuff done .
Speaker 1Small shifts , big impact . You can't do big things by going small , like doing 10 squats every 30 minutes or while watching Netflix or whatever it is you want to watch . In fact , a lot of my clients do that and sometimes we have a rule no squats , no Netflix . Packing up some boiled eggs and apples , bananas or beef , jerky or biltong , putting that in your drawer easy to grab or in your bags everywhere , so it's with you everywhere you go , instead of grabbing some candy . Fast fast food Doesn't have to mean bad food . Swiping 30 minutes of YouTube for 30 minutes of learning , which moves your career , your business , yourself , forward . Small shifts add up . That's how you can learn Italian . Doing 20 minutes of day every day that's what I'm doing , and in December I'm going to be going to Italy speaking only Italian , right . In fact , I also finished a lot of my certifications , three specifically doing nothing more than 20 minutes of daily studying .
Speaker 1Most of us already have the time and resources to create the future . We want the future , you that you want . It's just a matter of prioritizing and putting the big rocks first and also sometimes creating big rocks out of small pebbles . That is also possible in life For me . I know that now I'll need to get even better at focusing on what truly moves the needle , because the difference between busy and progress is in the choices we make every single day .
Speaker 1So what are your big rocks and how can you start small ? But now , and that's the question of the day what are big rocks and how can you start small , but now ? So , at the end of the day , today , you have a feeling that you know this day was meaningful . You have a feeling that you know this day was meaningful . I invested into something that I know gonna be a big , meaningful thing in my life sooner than later . So what are your big rocks and how can you start small ? But now ? Let's create fulfillment every single day . You know I love this phrase that I heard a few days back ago If you want to create mastery of your tomorrow , you gotta make today your masterpiece . That's all about the future that you want starts today , and it always starts today .
Speaker 1So , big rocks , and how can you start now , even if it's small , because small things in life add up beautifully to big , meaningful things , also for your work .
Speaker 1Additional piece , your most important work is not urgent , it's long-term projects .
Speaker 1It's long-term projects , it's important goals , it's creative and deep thinking , it's planning , it's prioritizing , learning , strategizing , developing yourself as a great leader , as a great professional right . Those are the things that will move your life forward , not some dealing with crisis that never end , answering all the email and solving all the pressing issues that will never stop until you prioritize the important but not urgent . Hope this helps and it will infuse your whole week with some deep thinking , prioritizing and the right things done consistently . Stay tuned for more . Wednesday is going to be our wellness day and Friday is going to be our day for systems of productivity and effectiveness , and soon we're going to have more guests on our podcast . In fact , I'm finishing editing this weekend for our next guest . We're going to be talking all about change and how make small and big changes happen in our life . So stay tuned for that and also for everything that is coming . Have an amazing big rocks kind of week and , till next time , go big and start now , even if it means going small .