True Wealth: Golfballs in a Jar

Prior to my graduate degrees in business and economics, I have an undergraduate degree in philosophy and psychology; so the relationship between wealth and happiness had occupied me. With family upbringing and religion, I had resolved this issue to my peace of mind by the time I was forty.

I recently read this wonderful story in our Rotary West Cebu magazine, and after changing it a little to suit my golf buddies, I should share it with you as it capsulate a life philosophy.

One day in a class in philosophy, the professor brought in a large empty glass jar and put it in the table in front of the class. Then he poured in a box of golf balls filling the glass completely to the rim, and asks the class, "Is this glass full?" and the class agreed that it was. The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar, shaking the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open spaces between the golf balls. He again asked the class, "Is this glass full?" and the class agreed that it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar, and the sand filled up the spaces between the golf balls and the pebbles. Once more the professor ask the students, "Is this glass full?, and the students responded with a resounding, "Yes." The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table and poured them into the jar, filling the spaces between the sand. All the students laughed.

"Now," said the professor as the laughter subsided, "I want you to realize that this jar represent your life. The golf balls are the important things: your family, your children, your religion, your health, your friends, your golf game and other passions. These are things that if everything else is lost, and only they remained, your life would still be full. The pebbles are the other things that matter; your job, your house, your car, and your minor passions. The sand is everything else, the small stuff."

"If you put the small stuff first, there is no room for the pebbles and the golf balls. The same goes for life, if you put the small things ahead, you will have no room for the things that are important to you. Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Play with your children, take your wife out to dinner and dancing, have a medical check-up, play another 18 holes some afternoons. There will always be time to do the small stuff in the office and in the home. Take care of the golf balls first, then the pebbles, the things that really matter, the rest is just sand."

The class was impressed, but one student stood up and asked, "What about the coffee, what does it represent?" Without hesitation, the professor smiled and said," It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there is always room for a couple of cups of coffee with friends."