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As this man stood in front of the group of high-powered overachievers
he said, "Okay,
time for a quiz." Then he pulled out a one-gallon, wide-mouthed
mason jar and set it on
a table in front of him. Then 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 pieces of
gravel to work
themselves down into the spaces between the big rocks.
Then he smiled and asked the group once more, "Is the jar full?"
By this time the class was onto him. "Probably not," one of them answered.
"Good!" he replied. And he reached under the table and brought
out a bucket of sand.
He started dumping the sand in and it went into all 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 up 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
into it!"
"No," the speaker replied, "that's not the point. The truth this
illustration
teaches us is this: 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? A project that YOU want
to accomplish? Time with
your loved ones? Your faith, your education, your finances?
A cause? Teaching or
mentoring others? Remember to put these BIG ROCKS in first
or you'll never get them in
at all.
