One day, a time management expert made a demonstration to a group of business students. It's so impressive that those student probably wouldn't forget of their life time.
In front of those talented young people, he said "let's do a test", then he put one wide mouthed bottle on the table. After, he took out a pile of fist-size rocks and put them one by one into the bottle carefully till the rock over the top. He asked: "Is the bottle full?" All the students answered:"Yes, it is." The expert asked again: "Really?" He took out a bucket of gravel under the table. He poured it into the bottle while patting the bottle wall. These gravel filled up the space between the rocks. "Is the bottle full now?" He asked again.
But this time some students started to understand, "Probably not," one student answered. "Very well!" the expert said. He took out a bucket of sand under the table and poured it into the bottle slowly. The sand filled up all the small gap between rocks and gravels. He asked the students again: "Is the bottle full now?" "No, it's not." the students answered loudly. Again, he said:"good!" Then he fetched a jug pouring the water into the bottle till the water even the top.
He headed up and asked: "What does this example mean?" One student spoke: "It tells us, no matter how tight your time table is, as long as you put effort, you can always do more things!" "No," the expert said, "That's not the its real meaning. This demo told us, if you don't put the big rocks first, then you could never put it into the bottle again. So, what are the rocks in your life? The time you spend with your lover, your religion, your education, dream, or same as mine--guiding others? You must deal those 'big rocks' first, otherwise, you could never do that for your whole life."
I couldn't stop thinking after I read this story. I try to ask myself this question: What are the 'big rocks' of my life? Am I focusing on the right things now or I've given too much weight to the gravels or sand or even water?
Have you asked yourself?
