One day an expert in time management was speaking to a group of business students. As he stood in front of the group of high-powered overachievers he said, “Okay, time for a quiz.” He then pulled out a one-gallon, wide-mouthed Mason jar and set it on the table. He produced about a dozen fist-sized rocks and carefully placed them one at a time into the jar. When the jar was filled to the top and no more rocks would fit inside, he asked, “Is this jar full?” Everyone in the class said, “Yes.” Then he said, “Really?”
He reached under the table and pulled out a bucket of gravel. Then he dumped some gravel in and shook the jar causing it to work down into the space between the big rocks. Then he asked the group once more, “Is the jar full?” By this time the class was on to him. “Probably not,” one of them answered. “Good!” he replied.
He reached under the table and brought out a bucket of sand and started dumping the sand in the jar until it filled the spaces left between the rocks and the gravel. Once more he asked the question, “Is this jar full?” “No!” the class shouted. Once again he said, “Good.”
Then he grabbed a pitcher of water and began to pour it in until the jar was filled to the brim. Then he looked at the class and asked, “What is the point of this illustration?”
One eager beaver raised his hand and said, “The point is, no matter how full your schedule is, if you try really hard you can always fit some more things in it!” “No,” the speaker replied, “that's not the point.”
“The truth this illustration teaches us is that if you don't put the big rocks in first, you'll never get them in at all. What are the 'big rocks' in your life? Your children, your loved ones, your education, your dreams, a worthy cause, teaching others, doing things that you love, your health; your mate. Remember to put these BIG ROCKS in first or you'll never get them in at all. If you sweat about the little stuff then you'll fill your life with little things and you'll never have the real quality time you need to spend on the big, important stuff.”
This story has been told by Stephen Covey in 1996.
Great article.. have read it earlier, but this time it is two-fold. First is the obvious - squeeze and you can manage more, but the more important newly-acquired is to first add the important things in life and then go for secondary ones, else the less-important will occupy all and the important big one will stay out.. Great Shrikanya, thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the encouraging words Shiv. Yes, this was told by Stephen Covey in a lecture. On one hand, effective time management can make us much more efficient. On the other hand, juggling unimportant task will make us an organizing machine. To have a life, we must know what we are fighting for, is it worth fighting for? If yes, go for it. Otherwise, it is not important at all.
ReplyDeleteI promise to share such inspiring thoughts and stories with you all.
Actually this story once came in DD1.... if any one remember mullah nasiruddin ..... Exactly same concept management thing .....
ReplyDeleteYes, this is a well known story and I also said that the story is not mine. I am retelling the story so that you can recollect it and it becomes fresh again. Can you please tell me the programme's name? Then I will edit my post to include that as well.
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