The Three R's Of Death

Illus 1: One day an expert in time management was speaking to a group of business students and, to drive home a point, used an illustration those students will never forget. As he stood in front of the group of high-powered over-achievers, he said, “Okay, time for a quiz.”

Then he pulled out a two-gallon, wide-mouthed pickle jar and set it on the 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 answered, “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 space between the big rocks.

Then he asked the group once more, “Is the jar full?”

By this time the class was on to him. “Probably not,” one of them answered.

Good!” he replied. He reached under the table and brought out a bucket of sand. He started dumping the sand into the jar and it went into all of 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 at the class and asked, “What is the point of this illustration?”

One eager student 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: 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?

Remember to put these BIG ROCKS in first or you may never get to them.

So, this morning when you are reflecting on this short story, ask yourself this question: What are the “big rocks” in my life? Then put those in your jar first.

Illus.2 Dad busy watching TV … it was an important football game. The little girl kept bothering him wanting to go get a treat at the corner store (a practice they routinely performed). Finally, frustrated at her persistence at this particular time, he reached over and picked up a magazine and quickly thumbing through it found a picture of the world. Taking his scissors, he cut the picture out, then cut it into a number of much smaller pieces. Handing the pieces to the little girl, along with a roll of scotch tape he said “put this together, and when you have it looking like the world again, I promise you we’ll go get that candy bar.

Thinking he had pulled a good one and could watch the rest of the game in peace, he sat back down and got totally absorbed. After about seven or eight minutes the little girl came back in holding up a picture of the world all taped back together nice and neatly. He couldn’t believe it! (HOW? – he knew he couldn’t have done it so quickly.)