Learning To Prioritize
Daily, we must distinguish between what is major and what is relatively minor, otherwise we may spend our
time on trivia and have no time left for the important things.
An instructor once demonstrated this to his class. He took a wide-mouth jar and filled it with rocks.
"Is this jar full?" he asked. "Of course," the students responded. He then took fistfuls of gravel and put it
in the jar, pointing out that the jar had not been full, and that there was room for the gravel. Then he put some sand in,
which found its way to the spaces between the gravel, and finally he added water, which filled all the spaces in the jar.
"You see," he said, "by putting the rocks in first, there was room for everything. Had I put the smaller objects
in first, I could never have gotten the rocks in."
If at the end of the day or the end of the week you find that you have been left with much work undone, it
is a good idea to review how you prioritized your time.
When we take care of the big things first, we may well be able to get everything done.