First Things First

Place big stones in an empty pickle jar. Fill up the jar so that there is no room to put in more stones. Now insert pebbles in the jar so that the spaces between the big stones no longer exist. The jar is not yet filled. Now, put sand in the jar so that it is completely full.
Finally, pour water into the jar. Could you have put in the big stones if you had put sand in the jar before? Or if you had put in the pebbles earlier?
No way. The big stones indicate the important things, and sand indicates less important things or unimportant things. The jar is the limitation. Call it, the limitation of time. This pickle jar theory guides how to make proper time management where our activities can be properly managed.

There are so many things that we want to do in our lives, but we fail to prioritise them and forget what our actual purpose is meant to be. We put sand in the jar before putting the stones in it, and end up having no space for stones. A student spends more time on agitation and forgets the main task of studying. As a result, he will fail to prioritise his first important thing in life. Politicians are much more concerned about their personal needs, and they directly put sand in the jar, and won’t have space even to put the pebbles.

As a result, more important and urgent tasks remain undone. The planned fast track highway connecting Kathmandu and the Tarai is yet a dream. Minimising load-shedding is a dream. Drafting a constitution is a dream. Important things are kept pending and the jar is getting filled with other stuff. By the time the jar is filled and there is no space to put in anything else, we realise that there are still bigger stones remaining to be put in the jar.

Our most urgent requirements have to be clearly defined. Where do you want to see yourself in the next 10 years? All of us dream, but we never make a schedule. So, start calculating what steps you have to take and where you want to be in 19 years, 15 years, and five years and where you stand today. It is easy to make dreams in a straight manner. Create a reverse schedule, and determine the place where you stand today! Now, you will realise the important things that you must do today. If you see yourself as a good and reputed doctor in the next 20 years, maybe you will have to become a doctor eight years before that, and you will have to get your MD degree in the next seven years. So, it is important to figure out your urgent needs and move ahead. Time is limited; make hay while the sun shines!

Published in The Kathmandu Post dated 3rd December 2014, under Post Platfrom