8/01/2008

A little Tale Well Told

This morning I was reminded of the story abut the time one of the presenters at a meeting came in carrying a cardboard box. He took out a gallon pickle jar and asked us, "Is this jar full?" My smart ass reply was it was full of air. The rest of the group said it was empty. The instructor took out several pretty round rocks and put them in the jar up to the rim. "Is the jar full?" "Yes Again" from me but then he took out a hand full of gravel and put it in the jar. "Is the Jar Full?" Duh Dennis he's tricking us. This time it was a hand full of sand and he put it in the jar. "Surely this jar is full now?" The final thing he put in the jar was a glass full of water. When I retold this story to Gerald today, he replied a very straightforward thing. There is always room for the small things if you make sure you put the big rocks in first. The trick is knowing clearly what your rocks are.

How many times do we stumble over the simple rules of life and wonder what to do next?
  • Income must be equal to or exceed outgo. The trick is you have to earn more or spend less.
  • If you are in a rut, get out and do something different. Stay in that rut and you will get run over. (My military mind wrote that as overrun the first time and I think it may be a better answer)
  • Happiness is wanting what you have not getting what you want.
  • An education is only a pathway to success. Hard work combined with an education will make it a true path.
  • Don't be surprised if you don't get to where you need to go if you don't plan on how you are going to get there. "Do what you did and you will get what you got."
  • If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. It doesn't matter how many times someone tries to sell you something, if your inner voice tells you it is wrong, it probably is. Kind of like what you get on your boots out in the cattle pen. 99% of the time you don't have to smell it, taste it or look closely to know it is crap. I read about a person that attended a sales seminar and they were offered a chance to buy a vacation package at $10,000. The salesman lowered the price until it was finally down to $2800 and they bought it. Guess what, it was really worthless. DUH!
  • With free advice, what you get is worth the price you pay.
Take a few minutes every day to think about what you are doing and where you are going. Life is a lot of fun and it is pretty easy to get sidetracked by the fun things and not think about what rocks you are going to put in your jar first. Love, kisses and laughs from the Birthday boy.
MUD

2 comments:

  1. Happy Birthday!!!

    I've seen that illustration with a Mason jar, walnuts, beans and rice. Yet, having verbalized it myself quite a few times. I still manage to forget and let the details get in the way.

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  2. I have seen the jar thing done before and think it is such a good reminder. Of course, we need to actually remember the lesson!

    I like all of your words of wisdom!

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