During a seminar, the instructor reached under the table and pulled out a wide-mouth gallon jar. He set it on the table next to a platter with some fist-sized rocks in it. "How many rocks do u think can we get in the jar?" he asked.

He set one rock in the jar. then another.. then another. He got the jar full. Then he asked, "Is that jar full?"

Everybody looked at the rocks and said, "Yes."

He reached under the table and pulled out a bucket of gravel. Then he dumped some gravel in and shook the jar and the gravel went in all the little spaces left by the big rocks. Then he asked again, "Is that jar full?"

By this time we were on to him. "Probably not," we said.

He reached under the table and brought out a bucket of sand. Then he dumped the sand in and shook the jar and the sand went in all the little spaces left by the rocks and the gravel. Then he asked once more, "Is that jar full?"

"No!" we roared.

He then grabbed a pitcher of water and began to pour it in. He got something like a quart of water in that jar. Then he said, "Well, what's the point?"

Somebody said, "Well, there are gaps, and if you really work at it, you can always fit more into your life."

He said, "No, that's not the point. The point is this: if you hadn't put these big rocks in first, would you ever have gotten any of them in?"