This following article is a guidance to make your life happier, with a sense of direction.
It wasn’t until recently that I came across a lesson that inspired me a few years ago. I encountered a video recently that I had read or seen a few years ago, but had totally forgotten about it. I recently got a refresher, but I would like to add more onto the idea. Let me explain.
The whole idea has to do with time management and prioritizing.
The video is about a man who walks inside a classroom, greets his class, and begins the lesson. He first takes out an empty Mayonnaise jar and adds golf balls, pebbles, sand, and then beer. It may seem kind of weird how he just does that, but let me elaborate more on what his intentions were…
Life is absolutely filled with responsibilities, dreams, aspirations, talents, jobs family, friends, and fun. We get caught up with all of them and we tend to prioritize the wrong ones. We have a hard time trying to find a balance, and we end up wasting our time. Some of us figure it out through trial and error; others are given advice and follow a plan, but the majority doesn’t have a sense of direction because we are all different, and there is no set blueprint to follow; let’s be realistic, we can’t always follow a plan. Our lives are molded differently, but we can all follow a certain method in order to succeed. We will have to adjust along the way, but it works 100% of the time. This method is illustrated above, but elaborated more deeply below.
First, the golf balls. The golf balls that are put in the jar first represent the bulk of what will be part of our lives. This includes, friends, family, children, health, and your passions/talents.
Second, the pebbles. Pebbles are our jobs, houses, and cars.
Third, sand. Represents all the other small stuff.
Fourth, beer. You will always have time to enjoy a beer with you friends.
If you put in the sand first, you won’t have room to put in all the golf balls and the pebbles.
If you put in the beer first, the balls and the pebbles next, and then the sand, then you won’t have enough room to balance the smaller stuff, and the beer may fall out, thus resulting in your life falling apart.
If you put in the golf balls first, the pebbles second, the sand third, and the beer last, you will have a balanced life.
Make time for your family, friends, and health first. Get regular checkups, go run, spend time with your family by playing ball or eating out, or even conversing with them. This quality time is absolutely important. But you also need to take care of your job, house, and car. You WILL have time to do this. You have time to clean your house, to go car hunting, to get a job. Use your resources to get there (which are your golf balls). And finally, the sand is the smaller stuff.
The lesson is to focus on the order. Don’t get caught up with too much beer, or else your life will drown and you will be left apart. Don’t worry about the smaller stuff because the big picture is happiness. Your family, friends and health always comes first. You can always find a job later, a car, and a house. After you take care of that, you will have time to work on the smaller stuff, and then enjoy a beer with whoever you want to. It can be chocolate milk, chocolate, candy, beer, etc. Everything comes in moderation, but we should prioritize the things that are more important.
Remember this, and apply it. BUT REMEMBER - The jar was open. There was no lid inside… If you do this the other way around now, dump it out and start new. Clean up your golf balls, polish the pebbles, grab another handful of sand or dry it, and buy some new beer at the end. It will take time, but be patient. The beer will always be there, don’t worry about it too much, there is a place and time for everything in life.
Along the way you might encounter many setbacks. You will be in the middle of polishing your golf balls, but people may be insisting on controlling your life. KNOW YOUR LIFE. Don’t ignore your golf balls. Listen to them, be polite, but explain to them what you love to do, and what you are capable of doing. Know what makes you happy, but make sure it’s safe and it’s not affecting others around you. You should rather be hated for what you love to do rather than being loved for who you are not. Be careful with this quote though because you don’t want to leave those golf balls behind. You don’t want to throw the pebbles down the drain. You don’t want to get rid of the sand. You don’t want to get rid of the beer completely. Balance between all of them and follow what you love to do.
I hope this helps. This world is slowly falling apart because we are focusing on the sand or the beer. Look at the U.S. presidency - they’re focusing too much on the sand and beer. There is 99% sand, and 1% of the rest. We don’t need to focus on deportation or building a wall. We need to be focusing on polishing the golf balls, feeding them, taking care of them, bringing out the sadness inside of them and overflowing them with love and joy. Know your limits. You don’t want to end with trillions of dollars of debt, or bad ties with others around the world.
If only people would follow this method, life would be better. But you’re going to make sure you follow this now and you share it with others. If you don’t hear it from the priest, the Pope, the president, your parents, or your friends, you heard it from me.
