Sometimes You Gotta Forget the Golf Balls and Just Play With the Sand!
This somewhat confusingly titled post is about priorities, procrastination and getting through through tough times. I found a lovely little anecdote around the blogosphere recently. I didn’t bookmark the original post but I have found another copy of it at the Awasu blog:
A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, wordlessly, he picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full? They agreed that it was.
So the professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.
The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with an unanimous “yes.”
The professor then produced two cans of beer from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed.
“Now,” said the professor, as the laughter subsided, “I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things–your family, your health, your children, your friends, your favorite passions–things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full. “The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house, your car.
The sand is everything else–the small stuff. If you put the sand into the jar first,” he continued, “there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls.
The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have 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 time to get medical checkups. Take your partner out to dinner. Play another 18. There will always be time to clean the house, and fix the disposal. “Take care of the golf balls first, the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.”
One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the beer represented. The professor smiled. “I’m glad you asked. It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there’s always room for a couple of beers.
The Moral of the Story - Take Care of The Golf Balls
So obviously, the moral of the story is to always prioritise on the Golf Balls - do the important stuff first. This is true not only in life in general but you can usually apply the same mentality to the individual aspects of life such as your job or perhaps your Internet Marketing endeavours.
About a month ago I suggested that we should be prepared to change strategy at any time and in that post I explained how I was going to be cutting back on various activities in order to be more able to focus on the important stuff - the Golf Balls.
It Takes Energy, Focus & Motivation to Deal With The Golf Balls!
If we’re talking about this metaphor in terms of your work/business and not life in general then we usually find that the most important work is often the most difficult in one way or another. If I prioritize my work right now I’d say that my most important work is writing content for Stumble Rush, followed by writing Blog Posts and then writing my Newsletter.
When all is good with the world, writing is easy for me and it flows. But sometimes all is not good with the world and with me! Sometimes shit happens! I’ve been a bit unwell recently - nothing major but enough to make me think “eurgh” at the idea of doing any of the work listed above.
Start With The Sand And Move Up
At the end of last year I went through a particularly painful relationship breakup and I couldn’t do a thing when I was going through that. I was just about able to pull myself together long enough to answer to emails and respond to blog comments (playing with the sand) but I couldn’t do any real work.
There are all sorts of reasons why we don’t feel great all the time. The trouble is that the typical “self help” material out there encourages you to get motivated, set your goals, blah blah and when you are feeling really low all that stuff just makes you want to groan!
From a work perspective, in order to do your best work you need to be at your best within yourself both emotionally and physically. If you’re sick, injured, in turmoil etc then you won’t be able to muster up the energy and drive you need to work on your toughest projects - AND THATS OK!
I have a tendency to beat myself up quite a lot about things. I get annoyed with myself if I procrastinate and waste my time on seemingly trivial activities. The trouble with that attitude however is that it ignores the connection between motivation and action.
If there is a reason why you don’t feel up to tackling your golf balls and then you beat yourself up about it you just make yourself feel worse and you end up going in a downward spiral! In these circumstances you shoud give yourself permission to take it easy whilst trying to get yourself in a better position to tackle the things you really want to do.
If you’re feeling low for whatever reason and the thought of doing your most important work makes you go “ugh!” then rather than berate yourself, have a look at what else you could do. Is there something else you could do, something less important that you could handle in your current situation? If so then great - do that! Doing so will hopefully give you a little sense of achievement so you can start to feel good about yourself rather than bad.
If the reasons for you not being at your best are physical then you’ll probably need to continue with this approach until the physical symptoms subside but if they are emotional then this may actually help you on your way to recovery. If you can do something, anything productive, that is a step up from doing nothing. When you do that you might then find that you feel ready to take on something a little more challenging and so on.
The Real Moral of the Story?
When you’re at your best then yes, focus on your Golf Balls but when you’re feeling low, just go play with the sand and see what happens…
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Mert Erkal
May 12, 2008
Very good points. My aim is to quit my full time job, and earn my living from blogging like you do Caroline. I am a part time blogger since last August. I spent at least 3 extra hours for blogging right after I get back to home after a boring work day. But I feel guilty if I don’t do anything related to my goal everyday. I feel like I am one of the characters in Prison Break, so I have enough motivation to feel energic at nights :)
Mert Erkals last blog post..New Alexa and Technorati Rankings for SFB