We’ve reached that point in our school year where we talk about Habit 3 of our 7 Habits, Putting First Things First. Inside if this habit, we talk about the “big rocks” in our lives.

#ummmmwhatisthat

If this is new to you, I encourage you to watch this video, but the big rocks are those things in your life that you put first. Family, friends, relationships, personal interests/goals, whatever they are to you, that’s what putting first things first is all about, the idea that you are prioritizing your life with the really big things, then letting the daily “little rocks” fill in around those big ideas.

My students are currently writing their three big rocks on their blogs (I’ll tweet them out later), but since they are doing this excercise, I figured I join in with them in doing this process. Everyone knows, if you are asking your students to do stretch their minds, you should as well, right?

#surewhateveryousay

Anyway, my three big rocks:

  1. Family: I’ve been lax in talking with my parents so I need to give them a call this week. I also am reconnecting with my brother. I did an activity with my brother and one of the things I am lack is communication with him, thus, reconnections are in order! This same activity my wife did and she pointed out that much of who I am is focused around school-related stuff. That needs to change somewhat. I am a husband, a father, a brother, a son BEFORE I am a teacher. That needs to be reflected in what I do.
  2. School: While it’s easy to say “I won’t do as much school stuff”, the honest truth is that I need to do school stuff. So what needs to change? How I do it! I need to be more efficient with my time.
  3. Breath: I was involved with a class that I will write about soon (Elevate) where we talked about retraining the brain. We have 60,000 – 70,000 thoughts per day of which we are conscious of only 5%. If we are giving ourselves negative self-talk in our brains, imagine what those conscious negative thoughts are doing among our brain’s unconsciousness. By taking control of our breath, by freeing out mind, and by visualizing the positives in our lives, no matter small, we begin the process of changing our brain. A few minutes of breathing, slow breathing, thoughtful breathing can do your brain an amazing amount of good!

Anyway, my three big rocks for the month. What are your big rocks, those things that are the most important to you? Please let me know in the comments!