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Inspirational Story: Dont Sweat the Small Stuff

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eMediNexus    22 November 2017

One day an expert in time management was speaking to a group of 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 overachievers he said Okay time for a quiz. Then he pulled out a one gallon wide mouthed Mason 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 the jar full Everyone in the class said 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 in the jar and it went into all the spaces left between the rocks and the gravel. Once more he asked the question Is the 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 in 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 Your children Your loved ones Your education Your dreams A worthy cause Teaching or mentoring others Doing things that you love Time for yourself Your health Your significant other. Remember to put these BIG ROCKS in first or you ll never get them in at all. If you sweat the little stuff the gravel the sand then you ll fill your life with little things to worry about that don t really matter and you ll never have the real quality time you need to spend on the big important stuff the big rocks . So tonight or in the 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.

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