What are your life rocks?

Rocks, Pebbles, Sand

I don’t know where this originates from, I think it may be Steven Covey, but you may have heard the story of a teacher who presents a glass jar to his class and asks:

“If I fill this jar with 3 large rocks, will it be full?” 

After looking at the jar they conclude that the rocks will indeed fill the jar.

The teacher takes the large rocks and places them in the jar. Then he takes out a box full of pebbles. and again, asks:

“If I add all of the pebbles to the jar, will it be full?”

And again the class conclude that the jar will now be full.

The teacher adds the peoples to the jar. They fill the gaps around the rocks and he then reaches for a bag of sand:

“If I add this sand to the jar, will it be full?”

Of course they can see there is room. The teacher continues:

  “Now that I’ve added the three rocks, the pebbles, and the sand, is the jar full?”

Looking at the jar filled to the brim, the class agrees that the jar is now full. “There’s no room for anything else in the jar,” say the class.

So the teacher takes out a cup of water, and pours it right into the glass jar. The water easily falls into the jar down between the rocks, pebbles, and sand:

“Now it’s full,”

copyright C Trafford