The Jar of Life. Philosophy 101
https://play.kahoot.it/#/k/775826ba-bbd9-4693-a8a0-5aaf21fd052a
Adapted from Perdue University:
Accept the fact that learning to set priorities is a necessary skill for success at home, in school, and on the job.
Now that you know what tasks need to be completed, it is time to prioritize them.
Rocks in a Jar Activity
Empty glass jar: The glass jar in the demonstration is the amount of time available in a typical week. Now remember that no matter how powerful, famous, rich, or insignificant any of us are, we all have the same sized jars; hence, we all have the same amount of time in a given week to get things done. One of the things that we tend to forget is that we have a finite amount of time to work with. By visualizing our time as an empty container, it can help us better understand and, more importantly, better fill that container with the things that matter the most.
Large rocks: The large rocks represent those activities that matter most in our lives and that have the most profound consequences, either good or bad, that result from their completion or non-completion.
Pebbles: The pebbles are the little tasks that might add up to be something significant, but if we miss one or two, it’s typically no big deal.
Sand: The sand represents all the non-essential things that tend to fill up our days and our lives. Sand in this demonstration represents wasteful, non-value-producing activities that fill up our jar and prevent us from fitting in the large rocks that are meaningful for our lives.
Try this activity two ways.
First, put in the smallest items (the sand); then try to get the pebbles to fit; finally, see if you can fit any of the large rocks into the jar (be sure there is not enough room in the jar when done this way).
This is what happens when we allow all of the least important priorities to fill up our day instead of focusing on what’s really important – we don’t have room for the biggest things (or time for the most important priorities). Now, let’s try this activity a different way.
Put in the biggest items first (most important priorities), then the next biggest, and finally, the smallest (lowest priorities); in this order, everything should fit in the jar.
Look at how much fits into the jar this time! By focusing on the most important things first, we were able to get a lot more accomplished! Let’s look next at some questions that will help us set priorities.
Answering these questions will help you to prioritize your activities.
What is most important to me?
What are the activities that I value most?
What is the most valuable use of my time right now?
How long will it take to complete this task?
How difficult is it to accomplish this task?
Do I need the help of others to get the task done?
What are the consequences of not completing this task?
Will my decision affect others?
Is there a deadline for any of the tasks?
There are several different methods for organizing your priorities; this lesson shows one example. However, the secret to being efficient is finding the method that works for you.
Assign each task a value.
Rank each task from 1 to 3, with 1 being the most important and 3 being a task that can wait.
You will have several tasks with each number.
Now rank the tasks within each number.
Rank each of the 1s with an a, b, or c
The a’s are the most important, and the c’s are the least important.
Accomplish those tasks.
You can now accomplish your tasks in this order: 1a, 1b, 1c, 2a, and so on.
What happens if you have two 1a’s? Do the one you want to!
There is nothing better than recognizing your hard work and celebrating your accomplishments. By crossing completed tasks off of your list, you will have the greatest sense of accomplishment. Warning: this can become addicting and you will want to keep working away to see that list get smaller and smaller so that you can move on to bigger and better things. Just remember, one bite at a time.
http://www.tlc.com/tlcme/inspiring-teacher-shows-students-how-a-jar-represents-life/
Transcript of the video available from