Fill Up the Jar with Big Stones First: A Note to Self on Daily Priorities
If your life is anything like mine, the majority of your weekday is spent in some form of remunerated labour, far from the core and centre of your passions.
We work because one must eat, and clothe oneself, and keep the roof from falling in over one’s head. It is a necessary exertion to trade our time for coin, the merest token of value for all the education and energy that goes in. What remains of the day after work, travel, eating, exercise or other routine business is truly ours. And what then? We use it for our leisure — often a spiritless dissipation which ends in stumbling steps towards the bed. But suppose there was better way to use ourselves?
What are you born in this world to do? Are you putting off the main act of your life?
Haven’t we all heard the story of a professor illustrating the lesson of priorities by filling a jar with stones, then pebbles, sand, and water? The story exhorts us to concentrate on the large and important tasks first, then spread the remaining time across lesser priorities.
What we devote the majority of our leisure hours to should be a reflection of our identity, whether it be a creative, community or commercial one. It is akin to how you spend disposable income, which signals your values and pursuits. Even so, the disposal of your free time should be to whatever means most to you.
What are the large stones in your life? The things that, left undone, would cause the deepest regret.
For me, creative writing is a passion that urges me to action. Were I to leave doing it to pursue baser pleasures, the longing would leave me bitter and empty.
How then do I fill the jar of my own precious freedom? With the unforced labour of setting thoughts down in ink, savouring the scenes wrought by others’ fancies, and rising with the flood of wisdom that swells across the web. Find for yourself those activities that stir a joy within as you press farther and wider into the field of endeavour. Do not limit your own potential with an infirmity of purpose — the future begins with you, right here today.
Reaffirm your identity daily and ask yourself what a person of that identity would pick as first a stone, then pebble. This conscious self-talk will lead you to true purpose.
Things to Remember:
• Your free time is a jar, so identify the items that must fill it
• Be wise to prioritise the important things first, make no exceptions!
• You will subconsciously fill the jar with small pieces if the large items are not picked
• Regard each day as a jar; if you fail on a day, begin again
• You are always free to choose what goes into the jar, so be intentional
