Each of us get only 24 hours of the day in our daily life, some succeed in their life and some not. Have we ever thought that what makes someone to reach at the top and some just keep struggling? I think the most important thing is – how we give priorities to certain things in our daily life, it can be career, friends, family or anything. I heard this story from friends and then read it on the web; I thought it to put it here. This story also teaches the Time Management and it has been taught in many universities around the world.
A time management guru was speaking to a group of type "A" personalities. He placed a wide-mouth gallon jar on the table in front of him. Next to the jar was a collection of fist-sized rocks. He carefully filled the jar with the big rocks, until he could fit no more.
He asked the group, "Is the jar full?"
Everyone responded, "Yes."
He then pulled a large bowl of gravel from under the table and proceeded to pour the gravel into the jar. The gravel fit into the spaces between the rocks. He again queried, "Is the jar full?"
"Probably not," was the group's reply.
He reached for another bowl, this one filled with sand. He dumped the sand into the jar. The sand filled the spaces not taken by the rocks and the gravel. Once more, he asked, "Is the jar full?"
"No," everyone agreed.
Finally, he reached for a pitcher of water and poured water into the jar until it was filled to the top. The time management guru looked at the group and asked, "What is the point of my illustration?"
One man replied, "That no matter how full your schedule is, you can always fit one more thing into it."
"No!" the guru responded.
The point of this illustration is, "If you don't put the big rocks in first, you'll never get them in at all!"
The moral of the story is: Get the important things figured out first, then fit everything else in around them. In other words, know what your priorities are.
In other words, this boils down to is the need to know what's important to you and to choose situations that will further your preferences.
Frequently, you end up in a job because a relative or friend thought it was a good career. You never chose. You let other people decide for you. Whether out of fear or lack of knowledge, this is a mistake.
You turn around; you're thirty or forty and hate your work. You ask yourself how you got here and how the heck to get out.
Better to do the work up front. Take the time and do the soul searching, whether on your own or with help, but do it.
At any age, it's important to know what your "big rocks" are. Then, you can start to have the balance you want in your life/career and the satisfaction of knowing you chose your goals.