A teacher stood in front of her class with
an empty jar and some rocks in front of her.
She started putting the rocks into the jar
and when they reached the top,
she asked the students if the jar was full, and they said yes.
The teacher then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar.
She shook the jar and watched as the pebbles filled the
open spaces, and then asked the students again
if the jar was full. They laughed and said
that it was.
Finally, the teacher picked up a box of sand and poured that into the jar,
and the sand filled the remaining space.
The teacher then said, think of the jar as
your life. The rocks are the truly important things,
such as family, health and relationships.
If all else was lost and only the rocks remained,
your life would still be meaningful.
The pebbles are other things that matter,
such as your career, or things you do in your
free time that mean a lot to you, but aren’t
as important as family and friends.
The sand represents the small stuff, material possessions, and the things that don’t really matter.
But here's the important bit. If you put
the sand in, and then the pebbles,
there isn’t enough room for the rocks.
You see, the small things can fit around the big ones, but the big ones can’t fit around the small ones.
And the same is true for your life.
You can fit the small stuff around the important things, but you can’t fit the big things,
the ones that really matter, around the small stuff.
