Have you ever heard the term “Big rocks first?” Yes or no, it’s worth spending a few minutes on this important concept.

The order of operation

There is a commercial and even a movie where a stressed father was attempting to put together a bicycle or other toy for their child late on Christmas Eve. Have you seen it? Have you ever had guests over and prepared a special meal complete with appetizers, a main course, and dessert? Have you ever decided to go on vacation, research your trip, purchase tickets, make reservations for not only the destination but the airline, along with arranging travel from your home and eventually back home again? If you have done any of these things or any of many other tasks, you know that there is a specific order in which each task must be completed to have a successful outcome.

Life has an order to it. If you do the correct thing, at the correct time, in the correct amount, you will most likely achieve a successful outcome. Likely more successful than you had even imagined. What might this look like? If you are a 16 or 17-year-old, it might look like this:

Take the high school courses that will prepare you for college. See Note 1 for the interesting details
Get good grades and participate in appropriate activities. See Note 2 for more information
Serve your country. Now, or…
Attend the college of your choice or learn a trade; see Recommended Resources and Note 12
Study the topic of your passion. Graduate on time with a degree in the field you want to work in
…serve your country later. Regardless, do it when you are young. Military, Americorps, or other ways where you give of yourself to put others first
Meet the person of your dreams while in college, one of the most popular places. See Note 3
Marry the right person. Marry the right person. Marry the right person. Did I mention that you should definitely marry the right person? Note 4
Purchase a home. See Note 5. Note the trends in this over time
Have and raise successful children and be a great parent. Note 6
Work hard, excel in your career, Note 7
Retire on YOUR schedule with financial freedom, Note 8
Enjoy the ride, Note 8
Build generational wealth, Note 9
Give back

I can just about guarantee that some people will disagree with what I just stated, but this is an example of what I call “The World According to Dave.” The World According to Dave is what is right to me. It may be me alone, but this is what’s right for me. It’s OK if you disagree, but if you do, I hope you don’t just disagree to disagree, but in fact, have a better plan. A plan proven over time based upon fact. Read on for more...

Not everyone does things as I’ve just described. I’m not saying this is the only way to be successful or achieve your dreams. What I am saying is if you select a path that is known to work and then duplicate it, you likely will achieve the same success. A few disruptors, Bill Gates and others like him, skipped many of these steps and were highly successful. As for me, my parents wanted me to follow the plan, but I was just too smart in my teenage years, and I honked it all up. Perhaps you remember that famous quote by Mark Twain:

“When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years.”

Fortunately, like Mark Twain, I later recognized that fact and applied corrective action in my mid-20s to eventually be able to recover later in life. It was very hard to do it this way. I missed a lot in the process, but I did recover, and in the fall season of my life, I’m pretty much able to do what I want, when I want, and how I want. Isn’t this what we all are striving for anyway?

And then there’s this

I’m unhappy to report that doing the wrong things, in the wrong amounts, and at the wrong time likely will result in less than favorable outcomes. But you already knew that, didn’t you? Now, what if you find yourself in this position, or as I just described, “you honked it up” like I did? Not to worry, my friend, there is a solution. I established Afterburner Success Partners and developed the course for exactly this reason. I encourage you to think long and hard about if you need to make a change. If you do, let me help you with the course designed to do exactly that.

Big rocks are our priorities

Ok, let’s get back to the subject of this post. If you are young and in control of your life, you will want to do things in the time and manner proven to be successful. If you find yourself off course, you will want to course correct and follow a proven plan. In all cases, it’s back to doing the most important things first. These “big things” are often referred to as big rocks. It’s really to do the correct thing, in the correct order, at the correct time. We’ve previously discussed tools and processes to help you with this. Remember the priority matrix? Remember our discussion on time management? Pretty much all the previous posts have been laying the groundwork to get you to this point. You should have all the tools you need available to you to advance forward.

If we were taking the course together, I would show you a couple of short videos that make this point in a very visible manner. Click on the link in Note 10 to watch this concept in action. In the video, you notice that all the big rocks are labeled. The young lady on stage must figure out, among competing tasks, which to do first. In our modern world, we often have a lot of things we want to do, and we must figure out which ones to do first; we have to prioritize our lives and activities. This is a difficult job, and many people fail at it. Why is that? There are three basic reasons for people failing to prioritize activities to ensure success as they define it:

1. They have too many priorities.

2. They do not or cannot differentiate the truly important priorities.

3. For any number of reasons, they let other less-important things get in the way of focusing on what really matters.

Click on the link in Note 11 to see an excellent article from Forbes magazine to learn more about prioritizing important tasks.

Financial Big Rocks

We are at the point now where we are pivoting from a lot of discussion about goal setting and learning how to properly set goals and get our minds straight. In the upcoming posts, we are going to learn how to set our own financial goals! If we want to be successful, and we all do, we must remember that we must do the right things in the right order at the right time. If we wait too long to get started, make some poor choices on what to do, or just mess up the timing, we may have a less-than-optimal outcome. And that’s not what we want, is it?

The purpose of this post was to make the point that as we strive to reach “Our Number,” a concept discussed in a previous post, we must do the right thing at the right time in the right order. We must do the important things first, that is, the big rocks. Besides the video I asked you to watch, you can learn this concept in another manner, and that is by reading a book by Stephen Covey that was previously recommended, entitled The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People(Note 13). Mr. Covey puts a slightly different spin on the concept in that book with a chapter entitled “Put First Things First.”

The bottom line is this: Being successful often is as simple as focusing on doing the right things in the right order. And that’s what we mean by big rocks first. That’s all for this week!

What’s in it for Me

Financial freedom and achieving our dreams so we can live our best life often comes down to doing the right things at the right time. Make sure to put the big rocks first. That’s what’s in it for you this week.

Call to Action

Sign up for the next available course so you can start your own journey to financial freedom.

Recommended Resources

Buy and read Blue Collar Cash by Ken Rusk. See Note 12. If you have not already, buy and read The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey (Note 13).

Up Next

The Financial Template

Notes

Please note that as an Amazon Affiliate, I may earn a small commission on the sale of any of these recommended resources.

What Are College Prep Courses and Classes: https://blog.prepscholar.com/what-are-college-prep-courses-and-classes#google_vignette
Extracurriculars Matter-To You and To Colleges: https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/plan-for-college/stand-out-in-high-school/extracurriculars-matter-to-you-and-to-colleges
Where Do Most People Meet Their Spouse? : https://www.theknot.com/content/online-dating-most-popular-way-to-meet-spouse
21 Suggestions for Success: https://21suggestions.com
What is the average age to buy a house?: https://orchard.com/blog/posts/average-age-to-buy-a-house
7 Ways For Parents To Raise Happy & Successful Children: https://gtscholars.org/7-ways-for-parents-to-raise-happy-successful-children
10 tips for Becoming Successful at Work: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/10-tips-becoming-successful-work-electra-michaelidou/
These topics are included in the Afterburner Success Partners course entitled Achieve Your Dreams: A Complete Guide To Live Your Best Life
What is Generational Wealth: https://www.ramseysolutions.com/retirement/generational-wealth?srsltid=AfmBOoryuqpHyLUkPmex03PnVAhKUf-sqSJ-0_tt38Q0uTXcnDSyj8WV
Big Rocks First: https://youtu.be/zV3gMTOEWt8
What Are Your Big Rocks, Forbes Magazine, April 14, 2022: https://www.forbes.com/sites/hillennevins/2020/01/21/what-are-your-big-rocks/
Blue Collar Cash by Ken Rusk: https://amzn.to/4hm1Bfd
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey: https://amzn.to/4h9BB6N

Big Rocks First