一天，一名時間管理專家在對一群學習商業的學生講話時，為了論證一個論點，他用了一個令學生們永遠難忘的 表述方式。站在這群出類拔萃的學生面前，他說：“來，做個小測試。”他拿出一個一加侖的廣口玻璃瓶，放在他們面前的桌上。接著他拿出一小堆拳頭大小的石塊，小心翼翼、一塊一塊地放進瓶子里。等石塊裝滿到瓶子，再也塞不下時，他問：“瓶子滿了嗎？”大家都說：“滿了。”
He replied, "Really?"
他問：“真的滿了嗎？”
He reached under the table and pulled out a bucket of gravel, then dumped some gravel in and shook the jar causing pieces of gravel to work themselves down into the space between the big rocks.
他伸手到桌下提出一桶碎石，將碎石倒進瓶子里，搖晃瓶子讓碎石漏進石塊的間隙里去。
He asked the group once more, "Is the jar full?"
他又問學生：“瓶子裝滿了嗎？”
By this time the class was on to him. "Probably not," one of them answered.
這時學生們領悟過來了。“可能還沒滿吧!”一個學生回答說。
"Good!" he replied.
“好！”他說道。
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 the spaces left between the rocks and the gravel. Once more he asked the question,"Is the jar full?"
他伸手從桌底下拎出了一桶沙，把沙往瓶子里倒，沙子塞滿了石塊與碎石的縫隙，他又一次問：“滿了嗎？”
"No!" the class shouted.
“沒滿！”全班學生大聲回答。
Once again he said, "Good!"
再一次，他說道：“好！”
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 her 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!"
然后他又拿出一大罐水往瓶子里倒，一直倒到水升到瓶口高。他看著學生們問“這個演示說明了什么？”一個學生急忙舉手說：“說 明了：不管時間安排得多緊，只要你想辦法，總是可以見縫插針地做更多的事情。”
"Good answer, but no," the speaker replied, "that’s not my point. The truth this illustration teaches 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? In my life they are my children... my wife... my loved ones... my education... my dreams... charities and worthy causes... teaching or mentoring others... doing things that I love... time for myself... my health... Remember to put these BIG ROCKS in first or you’ll never get them in at all."
“回答得好，不過，”專家說：“這不是我想說的。這個例子告訴我們一個事實：如果你不是先放大石塊，以后 它們就永遠擺不進去。你生活中的‘大石塊’是什么呢？在我的生活中，那就是我的孩子、妻子、所愛的人、學習、夢想、善行和有價值的事業、教導他人、做我喜歡做的事、留給自己的時間、健康，等等。要記住，必須先放“大石塊”，否則它們永遠放不進去。”
If you sweat the little stuff 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：the big rocks.
如果你奔忙于瑣事，那么這些無關緊要的小事就會充斥你的生活，讓你成天操心，你就永遠沒辦法騰出有質量的時間來處理你的大事和要事（大石塊）。