First I’m going to tell you a story: A teacher stood before a class with some items before her on her desk: 2 empty jars and 6 full bowls – two of the bowls contained equal amounts of rocks about 2” in diameter, two held smaller pebbles, and the remaining two were filled with sand.

The teacher picked up the first empty jar and poured into it one of the bowls of sand. There was barely enough room for the pebbles after that and none for the rocks.

The teacher then picked up the other jar but this time proceeded to fill it with the rocks. After the bowl of rocks was empty, she picked up the bowl of pebbles and poured them into the jar. She shook the jar lightly and the pebbles rolled into the open areas between the rocks. Finally, the teacher picked up the bowl of sand and poured it into the jar. The sand sifted its way into the remaining spaces.

“Always deal with the big stuff first,” she said. “If you don’t, you won’t have room for what’s really important.”

Now I’m going to ask you a question: Have you ever started a project only to become immediately mired in the details? Then you may be in a sand mind-set. Better to think rocks first and ask yourself some questions.

What is the point of your story? This may sound obvious but it is the base from which you will build on.

Is your idea strong enough to support an entire story? The last thing you want or need is to have everything collapse because of a weak premise.

Does your main idea lend itself to being filled with the life-giving details? That is a pretty heavy load to carry.

By starting with the big stuff first, you have plenty of time and room to sweat the small stuff later on. And odds are your project may be stronger for it. Besides, the next time someone asks you if you have rocks in your head, you can say, “Why, thank you. Yes, yes I do.”

Disclaimer:The penguins above definitely do NOT have rocks in their heads. They're thoughtful, detail-oriented birds, friend to children everywhere.