A
philosophy professor once stood up before his class with a large empty
mayonnaise jar. He filled the jar to the top with large rocks and asked his
students if the jar was full.
His students all agreed the jar was full.
He then
added small pebbles to the jar, and gave the jar a bit of a shake so the
pebbles could disperse themselves among the larger rocks. Then he asked again,
“Is the jar full now?”
The students agreed that the jar was still full.
The
professor then poured sand into the jar to fill up all the remaining empty
space.
The students then agreed again that the jar was full.
The Metaphor:
In this story, the jar represents your life and
the rocks, pebbles, and sand are the things that fill up your life. The rocks represent
the most important projects and things you have going on, such as spending time
with your family and maintaining proper health. This means that if the pebbles
and the sand were lost, the jar would still be full and your life would
still have meaning.
The pebbles represent the things in your life that matter,
but that you could live without. The pebbles are certainly things that give
your life meaning (such as your job, house, hobbies, and friendships), but they
are not critical for you to have a meaningful life. These things often
come and go, and are not permanent or essential to your overall well-being.
Finally, the sand represents the remaining filler things in
your life, and material possessions. This could be small things such as watching television, browsing through your favorite social media site, or running
errands. These things don't mean much to your life as a whole, and are
likely only done to waste time or get small tasks accomplished.
The Moral:
The
metaphor here is that if you start with putting sand into the jar, you will not
have room for rocks or pebbles. This holds true with the things you let into
your life. If you spend all of your time on the small and insignificant
things, you will run out of room for the things that are actually important.
In order to have a more effective and efficient life, pay
attention to the “rocks,” because they are critical to your long-term well-being.
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