ちょっといい話)Stones and pebbles 大きな石と小さな石 英語版 RT
2014/03/21
このブログのごく初期に「大きな石と小さな石」というタイムマネジメントの授業の話を紹介しました。http://ankei.jp/yuji/?n=7
あそこでは、光はアフリカからという感じで紹介されていましたが、ネットロアで
は、アメリカの社長たちを導く フランスの老教授の智慧になっていたりします。英
語版を載せておきましょうね。おわりにあるコメントの中で、水じゃなくてビールを
使って、いつでもビールを飲むぐらいの時間はある、というのにビール大好きの友人
を思い出して笑いました。
http://www.8164.org/stones-and-pebbles/
Stones & Pebbles
by Jin, 10-10-08 // 13 comments
One day, an old professor of the School of Public Management in France,
was invited to lecture on the topic of “Efficient Time Management” in fron
t of a group of 15 utive managers representing the largest, most success
ful companies in America.
The lecture was one in a series of 5 lectures conducted in one day,
and the old professor was given 1 hr to lecture.
Standing in front of this group of elite managers, who were willing to w
rite down every word that would come out of the famous professor’s mouth, t
he professor slowly met eyes with each manager, one by one, and finally said
, “we are going to conduct an experiment”.
From under the table that stood between the professor and the
listeners, the professor pulled out a big glass jar and gently placed
it in front of him. Next, he pulled out from under the table a bag of
stones, each the size of a tennis ball, and placed the stones one by
one in the jar. He did so until there was no room to add another stone
in the jar.
Lifting his gaze to the managers, the professor asked, “Is the jar full?
” The managers replied, “Yes”. The professor paused for a moment, and rep
lied, “Really?” Once again, he reached under the table and pulled out a ba
g full of pebbles.
Carefully, the professor poured the pebbles in and slightly rattled the
jar, allowing the pebbles to slip through the larger stones, until they sett
led at the bottom. Again, the professor lifted his gaze to his audience and
asked, “Is the jar full?” At this point, the managers began to understand
his intentions.
One replied, “apparently not!” “Correct”, replied the old professor,
now pulling out a bag of sand from under the table. Cautiously, the profess
or poured the sand into the jar. The sand filled up the spaces between the s
tones and the pebbles. Yet again, the professor asked, “Is the jar full?”
Without hesitation, the entire group of students replied in unison, “NO!”
“Correct”, replied the professor.
And as was expected by the students, the professor reached for the pitch
er of water that was on the table, and poured water in the jar until it was
absolutely full. The professor now lifted his gaze once again and asked, “W
hat great truth can we surmise from this experiment?” With his thoughts on
the lecture topic, one manager quickly replied, “We learn that as full as o
ur schedules may appear, if we only increase our effort, it is always possib
le to add more meetings and tasks.” “No”, replied the professor.
“The great truth that we can conclude from this experiment is: If we do
n’t put all the larger stones in the jar first, we will never be able to fi
t all of them later.” The auditorium fell silent, as every manager processe
d the significance of the professor’s words in their entirety.
The old professor continued, “What are the large stones in your life? H
ealth? Family? Friends? Your goals? Doing what you love? Fighting for a Caus
e? Taking time for yourself?”
“What we must remember is that it is most important to include the larg
er stones in our lives, because if we don’t do so, we are likely to miss ou
t on life altogether. If we give priority to the smaller things in life (peb
bles & sand), our lives will be filled up with less important things, leavin
g little or no time for the things in our lives that are most important to u
s. Because of this, never forget to ask yourself, ‘What are the Large Stone
s in your Life?’ And once you identify them, be sure to put them first in y
our ‘Jar of Life’”.
With a warm wave of his hand, the professor bid farewell to the
managers, and slowly walked out of the room.
I first read this story from a mailing-list years ago. It has had a profound
impact on me. If you’ve been following my blog, you’d know that I’m a fa
n of analogies. Identifying the “large stones,” both in my personal or pro
fessional life, has helped me to get the important stuff done first. Time is
like money, it’s never there when you really need it. Time is also like mo
ney, in that small changes add up over time. Accomplish important tasks firs
t, then the rest will come at ease.
I quote the last from the 13 comments.
I remember being told this story in my uni days. Only, instead of water, my
lecturer poured in a bottle of Budweiser, proving that “No matter how busy
your life may be, there is always room for a beer” :)