What is important to you?
I have been asking myself that a lot lately. What is important to me. There are many things important to me right now like, setting up my website, blogging as much as I can, studying and reading. Wow, everything I just mentioned that was important to me were things that weren't real, that don't have feelings. Does that make sense? I wrote that, because at that moment those things were important to me. But what should be at the top of my list is My family (that includes my friends, as they are my family too). I wouldn't be here in this place right now if they weren't what inspires and drives me to be my very best. In saying that, I feel like I have put them on the back burner while I took this time to work hard at my own future dreams.
Remember the professor who did that rock experiment? You know the one, right? The one where he lectured on "Efficient Time Management". I don't know the exact story, but I believe I know most of the story. He was at the podium and pulled a glass jar from underneath it and then a bag of stones, large stones, like the size of golf balls. He then proceeded to put the large stones in the glass jar and asked the students if the jar was full, and to his question, they responded simply, Yes.
He then pulled out another bag, this time filled with pebbles, he poured that bag in, which filled in the gaps between the big stones, and then asked the same question, if the jar was full, which the students answered, that they thought so. To their somewhat surprise, he then pulled out another bag, this one was filled with sand, he poured the bag of sand in, which trickled down and filled in the small gaps between the pebbles. Again, he asked his question, and they were finally getting the idea and said, NO. He then pulled out a pitcher of water, that he poured in the jar to fill up the rest of the air pockets.
He stopped there.
His next question to the students was, "What great truth can we surmise from this experiment?" One student answered something about thinking that even though they thought their schedules were full, there would be more time for studying, classes, and/or meetings.
The professor said, "NO!" He then asked what the students thought the large stones meant to them and proceeded to tell them that the large stones were what matters most in life such as, Family, Friends, Health, their Goals, Doing what they Love. The pebbles, sand and water are the little things that just fill up time. He said, if they fill up the jar with the little things first, then they have no time for what truly matters. He told them to fill up their "Jar of Life" with the big stones first, because if they did not do that, then they may miss out on life all together.
So, the reason for telling this story was that I realized, I have been filling up my Jar of Life with the smaller things, things that are important to me, but are not what truly matters to me. I have decided to make time for those big stones in my life and just fill the gaps with the other stuff like worrying about my blog, or getting my website up and running, those things can be done, and will be done, but in time. What truly matters to me are the people in my life, My Family, and making time for them.
What truly matters to you? What do you want to fill your jar up with?
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