A professor stood up in front of his class with a large empty jar. He filled the jar to the top with large rocks and asked his students if the jar was full.

The students said that yes, the jar was indeed full.  He then added small pebbles to the jar and gave the jar a bit of a shake so the pebbles could settle among the larger rocks. Then he asked again, “Is the jar full now?”

The students agreed that the jar was still full.  The professor then poured sand into the jar to fill up any remaining empty space. The students then agreed that the jar was completely full.

The professor went on to explain that the jar represents everything that is in one's life.  The big rocks are equivalent to the most important things in your life, such as health and family. This means that if the pebbles and the sand were lost, the jar would still be full, and your life would still have meaning.

The pebbles represent the things in your life that matter, but that you could live without. The pebbles are things that give your life meaning such as your job, house and friendships, but they are not critical for you to have a meaningful life. Finally, the sand represents the remaining things in your life like material possessions, social media surfing, or watching television. These things don't mean much to your life as a whole and are likely only done to waste time. The Idea here is that if you start with putting sand into the jar, you will not have room for rocks or pebbles. This is true with how you spend your time. If you spend all your time on the small and insignificant things, you will run out of room for the things that are important.

Expanding Excellence - Personal Paradise Builders Blueprint, Productivity Training (expanding-excellence.com)