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THE MAYONNAISE JAR AND COFFEE
When things in your life seem
almost too much to handle, when
24 hours in a day are not enough,
remember the mayonnaise jar...
and the coffee...
A professor
stood before his
philosophy class and had some
items in front of him.
When the class
began, wordlessly, he picked up a
very large and empty mayonnaise
jar
and proceeded to fill it with golf balls.
He then asked the students
if
the jar was full.
They agreed that it was.
So the professor
then picked up
a box of pebbles and poured them
into the jar. He shook
the jar lightly.
The pebbles rolled into the open areas
between the
golf balls. He then asked
the students again if the jar was full.
They
agreed it was.
The professor next picked up a
box of sand and
poured it into the jar.
Of course, the sand filled up everything else.
He asked once more if the jar was full.
The students responded with
a
unanimous "yes."
The professor then produced two
cups of
coffee from under the table
and poured the entire contents into
the
jar, effectively filling the empty
space between the sand.
The students
laughed.
"Now," said the professor, as
the laughter subsided, "I
want you
to recognize that this jar represents your
life. The golf balls are
the important
things - your family, your children, your health,
your friends,
and your favorite passions - things
that if everything else was lost and only
they
remained, your life would still be full.
The pebbles are the other
things
that matter like your job, your house, and your car.
The sand
is everything else - the small stuff."
"If you put the sand into the jar
first," he continued, "there is no
room for the pebbles or the golf
balls.
The same goes for life. If you spend all
your time and
energy on the small stuff,
you will never have room for the things
that are
important.
Pay attention to the things that
are critical to
your happiness.
Play with your children.!
Take time to get medical
checkups.
Take your partner out to dinner. Maybe
even play another 18 holes of
golf. There's
always time to clean the house and fix
the garbage disposal.
Take care of
the golf balls first, the things
that really matter. Set your priorities.
The rest is just sand.
One of the students raised her
hand and
enquired what the coffee
represented. The professor smiled.
I'm glad you
asked. It just goes to
show you that no matter how full
your life may seem,
there's always room for a
couple of cups of coffee with a friend."
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