Time Management

[joko]

(The following story is not mine originally. I came across the story the other day, which I found very interesting, and therefore I'd like to share with all of you. Well, not really all of you, perhaps some had read it somewhere).

One day, an expert in Time Management subject gave a lecture in front of a class of business and management students.

He brought a bowl made of glass with a large opening, and three sacks of materials.

In the course of his lecture, he put the glass bowl on the table, and asked his students whether they could see clearly that the bowl was empty. Then he produced the first sack, which contained pieces of fist-sized stones, and began slowly to fill the bowl with them, until finally the stones reached the top part of the bowl.

'Look', said he. 'Is the bowl ful now?'
'Yes,' roared the class.
'Not really. Let's see, whether I can still do this', and he produced the second sack , which contained small pebbles, then began to put the pebbles into the bowl, filling the empty spaces left by the stones.

'Now, is it full this time?' he asked the class. The class was more alert now, noticing that there remained the third sack unopened. After a while, a student volunteered. 'No, sir, there are still empty spaces inside the bowl'.
'Right,' said the expert, producing his third sack, which contained sand, then began to pour the sand into the bowl.

'Now, is it reaaly full now?'
The class was silent, pondering the situation, until finally the expert walked to the water tap, and got some water, which he still managed to pour inside the bowl.
'Well, you see, it is really full now. I can't fill it anymore with water.
Now, I would like to ask you this question: What lesson have we just learned from this experiment?'

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Dear Forum members,

What do you think the students' answer would be to the above question? And what is yours? Please do not hesitate to post your opinion here, bearing in mind that there is no right or wrong answers. Then we will discuss it in my next post.

Thank you all for your attention.

Joko

[ryanberg]

Hmmm I think the lesson is...

That things aren't always the way they appear. In many situations, there are several layers of "truth". In this case, after the speaker filled the bowl with the large stones it seemed as though the bowl was full...and it was, if you were only thinking in terms of those sized stones (you could not fit more of them in the bowl). But once you shifted your perspective to include small pebbels, then sand, then water....your definition of "full" also shifted.

If I were using this analogy to explain time management, I might then say that we often look at the way we use our time from a particular perspective that we are used to (saying the bowl is full after only putting in the large stones). But if we peel back the layers, we might discover that our time isn't really being used in the most effective way. And that if we shift our perspective, we can find more time or "space" that hasn't been filled. That's if I knew anything about time management

Now, if only I could start thinking like sand and water

Ryan

[Andrew]

Water's the best filler

Andrew

[Dorin]

Funny, Andrew

My understanding of this....

In a day we should first schedule/do the very important things, after that, the important things and, the last, the many unimportant little things.

If we start the other way around, the bowl will fill up with unimportant things and there won't be place/time for the things that really matter. (if it is full with water nothing else can be added).

So we should know our priorities...

I remembered a comment I liked a lot: "There's isn't such a thing as not enough time to do something, only other priorities..."

A nice day, everyone!

Dorin

[8nsteen8]

-

Since i suck in time management i will follow this thread closely. It has already provided some excellent food for thought.

I tend to do everything the other way around, first i fill with water then sand then pebbles and then stones. This way i need 4 bowls..............hmmmm

/Niklas

[anietog]

I've got the same history given by a philosophy teacher to students but with golf balls, stones, sand and two cups of coffee

Great answers for life given by the teacher though !!!

[Chiahua]

I read this story on Sifu Yang Jwing-Ming's website a while back, and I liked his answer alot. But I'm more interested to hear what other people have to say.

[cnholmes]

Excellent food for thought.

Many thanks, Joko Siheng for giving us this story. It has set me thinking in all sorts of new ways.

The bowl was already full - of air
Right at the end, heat the bowl... what are you filling it with now?

From a business management perspective the lesson is that you can always cram more activity into the time you have. Antacid anyone?

That bowl represents your life, which has you in it. What would happen if you had a rat in a cage at the bottom of the bowl? Put in the rocks - its ok. Put in the pebbles, it would be ok if the cage bars are close together. Put in the sand - now its starting to suffocate. Put in the water...

You should not try to cram more and more activity into your life. This is not a good way to live. We have a much better way.

Time is energy

Where do you see time? What do you know of that shows you 'time'? A ticking clock is just the gradual release of energy. The passing of the days is just the energetic motion of the planets. Everywhere we see 'time' it is just another way of perceiving energy.

So if you say you haven't the time, what you really mean is you haven't the energy.

We should only do as much activity as our energy can cope with. Like stance training. We don't jump in at an hours golden bridge straight away - we build it up gradually. Time management should include understanding how much time/energy you have.

As we build up our capacity for energy we can naturally do more. We don't need to force the issue.

Regards,
Chris

[Ray]

Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Please let me share my thoughts. This is the second time I have heard this story and I must say that it seems more profound the second time. Let me share with you a quick experience. I have a friend of mine who recently went to see a Chinese doctor, the doctor told her that she needs to sweat from exercise twice a day to help her condition. My friend became very agitated and began to complain that inbetween work and school, she has no time at all to go to the gym for an hour on the treadmill.
Although I did not tell her this outright I figured that all it takes for a person to work up a good sweat is fifteen minutes at most even if its just physical practice. But my friend's heart was closed and she felt like she was in a state of being a helpless victim. The main point of this is that a changing of perspectives is in order. There is no such thing as not enough time, if it is important enough to a person a person will make time. For instance, my parents used to complain that I would never call them:

Parents: You never call!
Ray: I'm too busy...not enough time.
Parents: A phone call is only five minutes!
Ray:...(urrgh! Why are they so picky!)
In reality though, it is one's priorities that matter. At the time, spending time with my parents was not as important to me as school and videogames ^^. Similarly, I believe that a person who claims they lack the time to practice qigong, yoga, any internal art, or spend time with their families simply does not consider it important enough. In other words, time management is simply an issue of priorities. If you have your priorities straight you can manage your time well.

Thank you for reading.

Yours truly,

Ray

[joko]

I read this story on Sifu Yang Jwing-Ming's website a while back, and I liked his answer alot. But I'm more interested to hear what other people have to say.

I am curious to see the answer of Sifu Yang Swing-Ming.
Could you please reveal what his answer is, or could you give the link to that particular website?

Thanks,
Joko

[Chiahua]

Both Ray and Chris's answers were close to Dr. Yang's answer. Dr. Yang stressed that it wasn't necessarily how much you can fit in the jar, what with the sand and water, but that you prioritize. He said that it's crucial to put the big rocks in first: if it's filled with sand or smaller rocks then you can't put in the big rocks at all. I tried to find the original newsletter, but unfortunately it's not archived.

[Ray]

Thanks for the information, Chow.

Yours truly,

Ray

[anietog]

Hi,

i had in spanish but i just found on the internet the story about the mayonnaise jar and the two cups of coffee. It says to share it so i do.


http://www.recreation.ucsb.edu/recsp...mayonnaise.pdf

I think is good to have another point of view. But its agreed on putting the Big rocks (golf balls) in first as Dr Yan´s answer.

have a nice day

[cnholmes]

Both Ray and Chris's answers were close to Dr. Yang's answer. Dr. Yang stressed that it wasn't necessarily how much you can fit in the jar, what with the sand and water, but that you prioritize.

Erm - my answer wasn't anything to do with prioritising . Although that is an excellent lesson. Its worth remembering when packing a car.

My point was that its tempting in modern life to pack every available moment with activity until you make yourself sick with stress. Much better to develop your energy, then you'll be able to do more.

Chris

[Chiahua]

We should only do as much activity as our energy can cope with. Like stance training. We don't jump in at an hours golden bridge straight away - we build it up gradually. Time management should include understanding how much time/energy you have.

I guess I read too quickly--what I took from that post was that given that time and energy are finite resources, one would do well to figure out what to do with it wisely. On the other hand, if we have a bigger jar, we can put in more golf balls.