To prioritize or Not to; thats the question

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. 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 God, 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 till 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, 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 really are important to you. Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. 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 inquired 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 cup of coffee with a friend (like me )”.

When you know how to prioritize the works, probably life would be even more problem-less and trouble-free.
P.S : On request from நாகை சிவா and to avoid further problems I hereby declare that this written data is a forwarded mail and not my creation.

Comments

Manoj said…
Great points mate

You can relate this to workaholics too... One who knows how to prioritise works to live and others live to work (called workaholics)

The professors example is damn interesting...
Serendipity said…
A nice story with a strong message:)
Syam said…
ithu thathuvams of India vayum thaandi punithamanathu...punithamanathu...punithamanathu
:-)
Anonymous said…
Mega thathuvam!!! Intha varusham thathuva award goes to......Janani... :)
Pallav said…
uhmm sorry didnt read your post yet but your name itself invites a comment from my side..janani in punjabi means an old woman or an old cranky woman..funny keep it up!
Manoj said…
REFERENCE: Nothingman's comments

lol lol lol... Janani, an old cranky woman??? how sad??? is this the first time u get this comment Janani??? Anyway, keep it up, nothingman...
Anonymous said…
Awvvvvvvvvvvvv....indha postah padichadhum orey peelings aayiduchu...pesama velaiya vittudalaamnu thonudhu...


(seri seri innum pogave aarambikkala adhukulla indha sceneah nu kekardhu theriyudhu) :)
Janani said…
@Manoj
Thanks You. Yeah workaholics ku than. Nee entha category le paduve??

@Serendipity
Danks yaar.

@Syam
Punithamanathu thaan enn blog le potu irukken ;)

@KK
Thanks ... ithuku thaan naan ethir parthen.
Janani said…
@Nothingman
Oh is that so. First time hearing this. I know my name means Mother in sanskrit, hindi and tamil. But this is new information to me.

btw thanks for visiting my blog. Do read the posts and put in your valuable comments

@Manoj
Udane vanthacha??? Santhosama. Yeah it was a new information to me.

@golmaalgopal
Athe thaan sollavaren. Office ku pogama vettiya veetule irundhutu ithu ellam namaloda relate pana kudathu.
Jayaprabhakar said…
It would have been nice if it was 'a couple of beer' instead of 'a couple of coffee' :)
Anonymous said…
Good one Janani...But the professor left out one more ball which is quite indispensible in life but still it is a optional one.. The football which represents the married lot.. either way wife or husband, when you squeeze them in life, you need to throw out everything when the jar, which represents the earning capacity of yours, is quite small...but as i said before its an optional one..
why squeeze in when your are happy with wat you are now ????
Lijin said…
Its one of ur very valuable post, janani. Keep it up. And one more thing...in Malayalam too ur name means "Mother". :)
Manoj said…
hmmm... i think i had been a workaholic for most part of my life until now... but i am doing my best to change my attitude... wat abt u???
good thathuvams janani..first time ..dropped here thru syam's blog
Janani said…
@Jayaprabhakar
Ha... Ha.. I thought you were Teetotaler.

@Bricktop
Unga varutham theriyuthu. Ungaluku Kalayanam panni vekka sollaren unga veetule.

@Lijin
Yeah Thanks for mentioning it here.

@Manoj
Can't call me workaholic since college day works are not listed under work[supposed to be duty] and as far as job is concerned will tell u about that after Nov 13th

@Karthikeyan Muthurajan
Nandri hai... Welcome to my blogsville and Do keep visiting :-)
KC! said…
en arivu kannai thirandhutta janani, ippo en kannuku ella color-layum golf balls-a theriyudhu ;)
Jaggy said…
Was that a lesson U learnt...?
Or a message to someone....?
Jaggy said…
I am just trying to link this with the previous poem...
Something fishy...
radiantbear said…
Janani Jannai Jagamni.. I dotn know the song after that anyways..


Yeppadi unaalamatum iipadi yellam.. cha cha.. yennku appidiye pull arikudhe..

Inimelil Janani Prof.Jannani yendru kura paduwai.. ;)

Cheers,

NY?
Lijin said…
Janani, R u using iexplorer as ur browser? I think so. right? Did u ever notice ur blog in firefox or mozilla? Please notice the difference. Please check this in Opera also.
pangu,
sonthey naanum solluren.

irruthalum oru forward maila post panni athuku neega credit eduthuka kudathu solliten
Janani said…
@Usha
Atleast unga arivu kannai thiraka mudinchuthe….. Naan than thirunthala.
@Jaggy
Lesson I tried to learn but no improvement. And your link is pointing to blogrolling.
@Nanyaar
Che che Prof.Janani akarathuku nu naan innum ethuvum kizhikale. ithu just a forward.
@Lijin
No I am using mozilla only. Any problem?
@நாகை சிவா
ithu naan ezuthinathu nu sollave ile brother. A mail I got from my friend. I posted it here. Ellarum thathuvam nala thane sonangale
Janani said…
@நாகை சிவா
Sorry… typo........ithu naan ezuthinathu nu sollave ile brother. A mail I got from my friend. I posted it here. Ellarum thathuvam thane nala iruku nu sonanga.
Lijin said…
Janani, the interface of ur blog in firefox browser is too different than in iexplorer/mozilla.
Do u remember somedays b4 there was a comment from ur friend that "He couldnt read ur Blog header properly" and ask u to make it darker ?
May be this is the reason for that.
First i thought firefox and mozilla will giv the same look to ur blog. But its only for firefox.
I checked it only in these three browers. Dont kw abt the others.
Cheers
Lijin said…
And its ok in opera too :)
Manoj said…
@ Janani
sorry but i dont understand the difference between work and duty... anyway, i guess daz not d point of discussion on this post... keep going bud :)

@ Lijin
I had always thought Firefox is the brand for the browser and Mozilla is the name of the company which distributes firefox browsers... they both are same and NOT two different browsers... did u mean something else mate? :)
Lijin said…
@Manoj (With the permission of Janani... :) )
Acually Mozilla is an opensource project. And a foundation called "Mozilla Foundation" provides overall support for Mozilla open source software projects. Thru this Mozilla open source project they developed an application which contains a browser, email/newsgroups client, address book etc etc. This is acually we mean by this name"Mozilla".
At the same time a group of Mozilla contributers wanted to use the Mozilla code to build a much more streamlined product. They wanted to build just a browser, without the complications and added code, brought on by additional components. This lead to the birth of Firefox. Both are different but from one team. One is light but not the other....
Cheers dear!! :)
Anonymous said…
@ Lijin

Yeah, sounds interesting... all the mozilla projects are listed at http://www.mozilla.org/projects/

Ofcourse, there ARE several browser-based projects they work on but only ONE browser itself- Firefox.

I guess you are speaking about "Access Mozilla"... Aren't you? Its NOT a broswer but simply provides accessibility solutions.

But if you meant some other project, I think I am not aware at all. Would you plzzz mind sharing the URL for me to download???

Thanks & Cheers
Manoj
Anonymous said…
hi...

congratulation...u've been tagged.... :))
//congratulation...u've been tagged//

oru taggaiyum pottutu athukku ippadi oru vazhththaa..

ayyaa, gopal..ennamO pOnga
Has to be me said…
yes seen this 4 as a fwd....its a good one for sure!
hello janani!
nan summa kidaluku sonnen. itha poi serious etduthukittu note msg ellam paduma.
No offense ok.
:))))))
:)))))))
:)))))))
smiley pothumla ;)
Anonymous said…
and u've been askin this question for long...nxt post enga???
Janani said…
@Lijin & Manoj
Mozilla and Firefox discussion highly informative.. Thanks :-)

@Golmaalgopal
Sorry ..Was not at home.. Just returned back home today...

@Karthikeyan Muthurajan
Athu enn ketkareenga... Avan tag pananulum pannan...

@நாகை சிவா
Ile athu naan maranthuten.. Athaan seri appuram plagiarizing nu vambu varum.. PEACE
Arunkumar said…
romba touching touching janani :)

i have read some of ur blogs. u write well. keep it up :)

drop by my site when u get time !!

-Arun
Janani said…
@Arunkumar

Thanks for comments and Do keep visiting :-)

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