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Filling The Jar

One day, an expert in time management was speaking to a group of business students. To drive home a point, he stood in front of the group of high-powered overachievers and said, "Okay, time for a quiz." Then he pulled out a one-gallon, wide-mouth mason jar and set it on the table in front of him. Next he produced about a dozen fist-sized rocks and carefully placed these large rocks into the jar one at a time. 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."     "Really?" he asked. Next he reached under the table and pulled out a bucket of gravel. He then poured some of the gravel into the jar and shook the jar so that the gravel worked itself 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!" said the time management expert.             He reached under the table and brought out a bucket of sand. When poured into the jar, the sand it went into all of 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."                Other Articles The Hotted Up Car Driven To Distraction Driving Happy Emotional Intelligence Filling The Jar Car Capabilities Tyre Secrets He then grabbed a pitcher of water and filled the jar until it 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: 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 family, your friends, your faith? " "It's up to you to decide what big rocks go into which jar, but just remember to put these BIG ROCKS in first or you'll never get them in at all." Amongst the jars in your professionl life, you will have a jar called "Driving". That too should be filled with the big rocks first. They could represent your budget, your available time, the insuance, registration, licence, etc.        But we would suggest that any driver who is filling his "Driving" jar should be sure to put in it one of the biggest rocks - Driver training. Otherwise, before too long, you may not even have the jar.