With both my 2017 and 2018 calendars before me, I sat down to review goals not achieved in 2017 and to write in priorities of 2018.

At that point, I grabbed a sheet of paper and wrote across the top, “2018’s Big Rocks.”

You may be familiar with the following story, but I believe it bears repeating, especially as we are about to enter a brand-new year.

A professor stood before his class with a large empty jar and began to fill it with rocks which were two inches in diameter.

He asked the class to let him know when the jar was full.

When they said that it was full, he poured pebbles into the jar, shook it, and once the pebbles had rolled into the open spaces, he once again asked if the jar was full.

The students laughed and agreed that now it was full. The professor picked up a bag of sand and poured it into the jar, filling it completely.

The professor explained that the jar is your life, the rocks are the truly important things that make life meaningful.

The pebbles are the things that matter, but if lost would not diminish the value of your life, and the sand is the small stuff, of even less significance than the pebbles.

If the sand is the priority and fills your jar, there is no room for the pebbles, much less the rocks.

If your time and energy are expended on the ‘sand’ in life, there will never be space for the pebbles, much less the rocks.

This coming year, I’m prioritizing the big rocks, and I believe the pebbles and sand will fall into place.

Ronny Michel may be reached at rmichel@rtconline.com.