The Man and his Glass Jar

I watch a man walk in with a large glass jar and a tan bag containing several large items. He takes a few large rocks out of the bag, that barely fit through the glass jar, and places them within it. Is the jar full? He asks the audience. Nope, it isn’t. After that, the bag of smaller rocks comes out. He rips open the bag and dumps them into too, filling the crevices between the small rocks. “Most of you would have thought this is the end of filling it.” Not even close, I think. He pulls out a bag of pebbles and dumps them in. Following the pebbles is a large bag of sand. We must be done now. Almost everyone would agree, but a few keen minds know the last step. The man takes a large gallon of water from the bag and pours every drop into the jar, filling it to the rim. Now you can get to work. Know what you want and balance what you do. 

This reminds of a quote that discusses how we don’t trip over mountains, we trip over pebbles. The path of mastery is watching yourself place your foot on the path, instead of just knowing what you need to do. Gaze into the future, glance at your foot on the path. It’s the how of the how. The philosophy behind the action. 

Scheduling your priorities is about seeing the different sized rocks in your life. The big rocks are things like family, health, relationships, finance, basic needs, etc. They seem impossible to handle because of their size, but they are vital. Unfortunately, the smaller and easily recognizable pebbles, sand, and even water can distract us from the big rocks, which encompasses the big picture. We tend to focus on the small stuff because it distracts us from the unfathomable and scary questions dealing with the bigger rocks. We confuse activity with accomplishment.

Spend most of the time on the long term and valuable activities. Have the awareness to recognize the large scope of both extremes, water and the entire jar. Let’s face it, the water is powerful enough even in small amounts over time.

Pay attention to what you put in the jar too, you don’t want only water, only big rocks, or only small pebbles. Balance them. : )

I think life is about creating yourself and enjoying who you are. Know yourself well by getting your priorities straight. =)