Is the Jar Full?

Is the Jar Full?

罐子装满了吗？

A professor stood before his class. Wordlessly, he picked up an empty jar and filled it with rocks.

"Is it full?" He asked the class. They agreed that it was.

So the professor then picked up a box of small pebbles and poured them into the jar.

He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles, of course, rolled into the open areas between the rocks.

"Is it full now?" They agreed it was.

The professor poured a box of sand into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else.

"Now," said the professor, as the laughter subsided, "I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life.

The rocks are the important things — your family, your partner, your health, your children, your friends, and your favourite passions, things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full."

"The pebbles," he continued, "are the other things that matter like your job, your house, and your car. The sand is everything else — the small stuff."

If you put the sand into the jar first, there is no room for the pebbles or the rocks.

The same goes for your life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you.

Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness.

Spend time with your family and friends. Take your partner out dancing. Take time to get medical checkups.

There will always be time to go to work, clean the house, mow the lawn and wash the car."

"Take care of the rocks first, the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand."