THE MAYONNAISE JAR

For 10 years I have saved an email post, one of those read-quickly-and-delete items.  This one, however, stuck in my mind, and I have found the concepts it poses useful many times in the ensuing years.  I’d like to share this bit of philosophy with you in hopes it will be helpful to you too when life crowds in and days do not have enough hours to accomplish all you must.

A professor walked into his classroom and wordlessly began to use several small items on his desk.  He picked up a large empty mayonnaise jar and filled it to the brim with golf balls.  He asked his students, “Is the jar full?”  “Yes.” came the response. 

Then the professor opened a bag of small pebbles, poured them over the golf balls so they filtered around the balls.  “Is the jar full now?”  A more emphatic “Yes.” rose from the group.

Next the professor shook the jar slightly and picked up a small box of sand, easily adding its contents to the jar.  “Full now?”  “Absolutely.”  After a pause, the professor took a cup of coffee from his desktop and poured it into the jar.  Students laughed as they puzzled over the meaning of this exercise.

Now, explained the professor, the jar represents your life.  The golf balls are the important things---your God, your family, friends, health, your passions that are so meaningful that if everything else were lost and only they remained, your life would still be full and rich.

The pebbles represent the other things that matter---you career, your home, car, hobbies, work with worthwhile organizations and so on.  The sand is everything else that occupies your time and energy, the small stuff. 

If you put the small stuff, the sand, in the jar first, it would be so packed that no pebble- things or golf-ball-things could be added.  The same principle applies to your life.  If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you’ll never have time for the things, the golf-ball-things or the pebble-things, that are supremely important to you.  Play with your children, regularly attend your house of faith, take time to get medical checkups, schedule regular dinner dates with your partner, play another 18 holes, go hunting or fishing before raking leaves.  There will always be time for cleaning the house or fixing the disposal after the things that really matter are done.  Pay attention first to those priorities that are necessary for your happiness and well being, and let the minor things fit between or disappear entirely.

One of the students raised her hand to inquire what the coffee represented.  The professor smiled.  “I’m glad you asked.  It just goes to show that no matter how full your life may seem, there’s always room for a cup of coffee with a friend.”