How it works

Jar of Life rests on one parable: put the big rocks in first, or they will not fit.

The story

1. A professor fills a glass jar with large rocks and asks his students if it is full. They say yes.
2. He pours in pebbles, which settle into the gaps. Full? Yes.
3. He pours in sand, which fills what is left. Full? Yes.

What it means

• The jar is your life. It is finite: whatever goes in takes space from something else.
• Rocks are what matters most. If everything else were lost, they would still give your life meaning. You name them yourself.
• Pebbles are everything else you do. Necessary, but not what fills your essence.
• Sand is the time nobody named. Not wasted, just unnamed.

The lesson

• Make room for what is important. Fill the jar with small things first and the rocks will not fit.
• Rocks always go first. With the rocks in place, smaller things fit around them.
• Remind yourself what matters. It is easy to spend the day on small things.