I once heard an instructive story about an old professor and his wisdom of management:
One day a professor held a lecture in front of a hall full of students. He bent down behind the cathedral and lifted up a big aquarium, starting to fill it with big stones. After he finished he asked his students; “what do you see?” The answer was; “an aquarium full of stones.” Then the professor bent down again, took out the big stones, and filled the aquarium with small ones. Again he asked his audience; “what do you see?” This time the students were not as confident as before and said the aquarium is not totally full, there is still more space for more stones. The old professor agreed, bent down, and filled the aquarium the third time – this time with sand.
Then he asked the class; “what do you think is the moral of this story regarding time management?” One of the students suggested: “Well, I think that we always have more time to squeeze more tasks!” The old professor’s answer was: “That’s true, but it is not the main point! The main point is that if we fill our time with sand, there will be no space left for the big stones!”
I liked this story very much, and found myself referring to it on many different occasions. It is instructive and can become useful when we come to plan our time. From my experience, time planning is one of the major challenges one needs to face when treading on the path to career development.
Next week on the editorial column I will share with you a tool for time management; one that I often turn to, and which helps me stay focused and get the important things done.