The longer I live, the more
I realize the impact of attitude on life.
Attitude, to me, is more than the past, than education, than money, than
circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people say or
think, or do.
It is more important than appearance, giftedness, or skill.
It will make or break a company, a church, a home.
The remarkable thing is that we have a choice every day regarding the attitude
we embrace for that day. We cannot change our past; we cannot change the fact
that people will act a certain way.
We cannot change the inevitable.
The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our
attitude.
I am convinced that life is 10% of what happens to me,
And 90% how I react to it.
And so it is with you…we are in charge of our attitudes.
By Charles Swindoll
One day an expert in time management was speaking to a group of MBA students and, to drive home a point, used an illustration those students will never forget: He pulled out a one gallon, wide mouth mason jar and set it on the table in front of him. Then he produced about a dozen fist sized rocks and carefully placed them, one by one, into the jar. When the jar was filled to the top and no more rocks would fit inside he asked, “Is this jar full?” Everyone in the room said, “Yes.” He said, “Really.” He reached under the table and pulled out a bucket of gravel. He dumped some gravel in and shocks the jar, causing pieces of gravel to work themselves down into the spaces between the big rocks until the gravel covered them. Then he again asked the group, “Is this jar full?” By this time the class was on to him and someone said, “Probably not.” “Good,” he replied. He reached under the table and brought out a bucket of sand. He started dumping the sand into the jar and it went into all of the spaces left between the rocks and the pieces of gravel. Once more he asked the question, “Is this jar full?” “No,” shouted the class. Then he grabbed a pitcher of water and began to pour it until the jar was filled to the brim. Then the expert in time management asked the class, ”What is the point of this illustration?” One eager MBA candidate raised his hand and said, “The point is, no matter how full your schedule is, if you try really hard you can always fit some more things in to it.” “No,” the teacher replied, “That’s not the point. The truth this illustration teaches us is this: If you don’t put the big rocks in first, you’ll never get them in at all. What are the big rocks in your life? Your loved ones. Your children. Your education. Your dreams. A worthy cause. Teaching or mentoring others. Doing things that you love. Time for yourself. Your health. Your significant other. Remember to put those big rocks in first or you’ll never get them in at all. If you sweat the little things, (i.e.; the gravel, the sand), then you’ll fill your life with little things to worry about that don’t really matter, and you’ll never have the real quality time you need to spend on the big, important stuff that really does matter (the rocks of your life).” “So, tonight or tomorrow morning, when you are reflecting on this illustration, ask yourself this question: What are the “big rocks” in my life. Then put them in your jar first.
Rules to Live By