【赫临译笔】人生的大石块 - 心云驛站

一天，一个时间管理专家正在给一群学生做讲座，为了阐释清楚他的观点，他用了一个让学生们终生难忘的演示。

他站在一群优等生面前，说：“来，我们做个测试。”他拿了个一加仑的广口瓶，放在面前的桌子上，再拿出十几块拳头大小的石头，一块接一块，小心地放进瓶子里。当装到瓶顶时，再也不能往里放了，他问：“瓶子满了吗？”班上所有的人都喊：“满了。”时间专家问：“真的吗？”他把手伸到桌下，取出了一小桶砾石，倒进去一些，摇了摇，小石子进入了石块的缝隙。接着他又问：“现在瓶子满了吗？”

这时，全班同学都专注地盯着他。其中一人回答：“可能没满。”“说得好！”他再次把手伸到桌下，取出一小桶沙子。他开始把沙子倒入瓶内，沙子流进石块和砾石留下的所有缝隙。他又问：“现在瓶子满了吗？”

“没有！”全体同学喊道。他说：“好。”然后取出一罐水，开始往里倒，一直倒到瓶口，然后看着学生们问：“这说明了什么道理？”一个学生急切地举起手，回答说：“这说明无论我们的日程安排得多满，只要真正努力，还可以做更多事情。”

“不，”专家说：“这不是关键。这个演示教给我们的道理是：如果你不先把大石块放进去，你就再也放不进去了。你们人生中的大石块是什么？是学业、梦想、事业，还是与亲人共渡时光，抑或是教育指点别人？请记住：要首先把这些大石块先放进去，否则你就再也放不进去了。

One day, an expert in time management was speaking to a group of students and, to drive home a point, used an illustration those studen ts will never forget.

As he stood in front of the group of overachievers he said, "OK, time for aquiz." He pulled out a one-gallon, wide-mouth jar and set it on the tablein front of him. He also produced about a dozen fist-sized rocks and carefully placed them, one at a time, into the jar. When the jar was filled to the to pand no more rocks would fit inside, he asked, "Is this jar full?"

Everyone in the class yelled, "Yes." The time management expert replied,"Really?" He reached under the table and pulled out a bucket of gravel. He dumped some gravel in and shook the jar, causing pieces of gravel to work themselves down into the spaces between the big rocks. He then asked the group once more, "Is this jar full?"

By this time the class was on to him. "Probably not," one of them answered. "Good!" he replied. He reached under the table and brought out a bucket of sand. He started dumping the sand in the jar and it went into all of the spaces left between the rocks and the gravel. Once more he asked the question, "Is this jar full?"

"No!"the class shouted. Once again he said, "Good." Then he grabbed a pitcher of water and began to pour it in until the jar was filled to the brim. Then he looked at the class and asked, "What is the point of this illustration?" One eager student 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 it!"

"No,"the speaker replied, "that's not the point. The truth this illustrationteaches us is 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? Time with your loved ones, your education, your dreams, a worthy cause, teaching or mentoring others? Remember toput these big rocks in first or you'll never get them in at all.