The Thing of Most Importance

Once a professor of philosophy came into his class. He brought some items with him and put them on the table. When the class began, he took a large transparent empty jar and started to fill it with two inch stones. He then asked his students: “Is the jar full?” The students nodded their heads in confirmation.    

He says, “Really,” and pulls out a pile of small pebbles, adding them to the jar, shaking it slightly until they fill the spaces between the rocks. He asks again, “Is the jar full?” They agree. So next, he adds a scoop of sand to the jar, filling the space between the pebbles and asks the question again. This time, the class is divided, some feel that the jar is obviously full, but others are suspicious of another trick. So he grabs a pitcher of water and fills the jar to the brim and asks, “What am I doing?”  

The students were watching the whole exercise inquisitively, unable to understand as to what the professor was up to. The professor continued:  “If this jar is your life, what does this experiment show you?” 

 A bold student replies, “No matter how much busy you think you are, you can always take on more and more.”  

“That can be considered,” the professor nodded his head. He then looked out at the class making eye contact with everyone and spoke, “The rocks represent the BIG things in one’s life that you shall value at the end of your life i.e. your family, your partner, your health, fulfilling your hopes and dreams. The pebbles are the other things one needs in life but aren't of great importance but give life a meaning to live for example things like job, money, appointments, friendships and other necessities etc. The sand and water represent the other very minute things of no importance and are   the stressors in life like watching a television, house hold works or running errands etc.”

Looking out at the class again he asked, “Can you see what would happen if I started with the water, sand or the pebbles first?” There was pin drop silence in the class. The professor carried on, “If you put the water and sand into the jar first,” he continued, “there is no room for the pebbles or the stones. The same goes for your life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small things, you will never have room for the things that are important to you. Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. life i.e spend enough time with family, take care of your health and never forget to develop spiritually – be a kind, honest, sensitive, helpful person. Then concentrate on pebbles i.e. have a job, go to work, clean the house, give a dinner party etc. The rest is just sand and water.”  

Moral: Innovation is all about placing priorities.  Start with your big ideas first before you run out of time  Just because the BIG priorities are heavy and difficult to achieve, we shouldn’t turn our attention to smaller ones as an easy way out as they after wards turn out to be a blunder.

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