Mateo frowned. “So I can’t do everything.”
“Mateo,” she said, “pretend this jar is your life.”
First, Lucia poured in the sand — representing small, urgent tasks: answering routine messages, scheduling meetings, checking notifications. Then she added the gravel — the pressing but less important chores, like responding to non-critical requests. The jar filled quickly. primero lo primero stephen covey pdf
One weekend, his elderly mentor, Lucia, invited him to her garden. She placed a large empty glass jar on a table, along with a pile of big rocks, a bucket of gravel, and a container of fine sand.
“Now,” she said, “try adding the big rocks.” Mateo frowned
But the rocks — which represented Mateo’s true priorities: preparing a key presentation, spending time with his family, exercising, and strategic planning — no longer fit. They sat on top of the sand and gravel, unstable and incomplete.
“You see?” Lucia said. “ Primero lo primero — first things first. If you don’t schedule your biggest priorities first, the small and urgent will always crowd them out.” The jar filled quickly
Mateo realized he had been living in what Covey calls “Quadrant I” (urgent and important) and “Quadrant III” (urgent but not important). He needed to spend more time in “Quadrant II” — activities that are important but not urgent: planning, relationship building, self-renewal.