In her book, Happier Hour, Cassie Holmes tells about a professor who brings in a giant jug on the first day of class. He fills it with golf balls and asks the class if it’s full. They say yes. Then he puts in some pebbles. And asks if it’s full. Then he puts in sand. And asks if it’s full. Then he takes a couple of beers, pours the contents into the jug and takes a sip of the other.
His point is that the golf balls are the things we care most about in life: family, friends, career, etc. The others are less important as we go along. The pebbles are the daily chores that need to be done. The sand represents even more minor things. (And the beer is just a reminder that it’s always a good idea to get together with a friend and have a beer or a coffee.)
The point is that we have to take time for those things that we say are most important in our lives. If the jar was filled with sand first, there would be no room for the golf balls. But it occurred to me that there is another point as well. Sometimes we look at our lives and think we need to make a huge change (quit our jobs, leave a relationship, move to another town) to achieve our dreams. However, sometimes the answer is simpler, if not easy. It’s to take a hard look at how we are spending our time. We need to cut out the stuff that’s taking up time but not making us happy: watching television, surfing the web, etc. Then we need to replace the time saved with activities that are meaningful: having dinner with a friend, reading a book to a child, working on that dream.
Believe me, I know it’s harder than it sounds. If time wasting were an Olympic sport, I would be a multi-gold medalist. When I come home, I’m tired. And watching some Tennis Channel is much more appealing than trying to wrestle a rough draft into shape. But on those nights I do work on the rough draft, I feel a whole lot better.
This week, figure out what your golf balls are and spend your time on them. And have a beer (or a Diet Coke) with a friend.
JollyLibrarian 