Although it has been said that time is money, that’s not quite the truth.  One can be short on money, and still find ways to make more.  But, if you are short on time, you can’t get any more than is already allocated to you.

Pickle Jar Theory - How will you fill yours?

You might go to sleep at night and realize that you have not done anything worthwhile during that day.  You might decide to be more productive tomorrow, and still find you wasted time all day long.  Nothing has changed.

Pickle Jar Experiment

Here is a way to picture time management: Imagine an experiment where a pickle jar defines your daily time allocation. In your world are stones, pebbles, and sand.  You can fill your container however you wish.  But, if you fill the pickle jar with sand, you will not have room for any stones or pebbles.  If you do, the pickle jar will be full with no room for anything more.

Think of the stones as the most important tasks in your schedule - odd-shaped, difficult to work with, and inflexible, as frequently they are.  Consider your current goals - these stones would be projects or tasks you need to complete in order to meet these goals.  The pebbles are less important tasks.  While they are related to the goals, they are not as urgent. The sand is the minutiae that fill out the day.  They are not important to your overall goals and objectives.  In fact, the sand often gets in the way, hindering us from completing our goals and feeling truly fulfilled.  These tasks might include preparing and eating meals, paying bills, or checking our email.

The Pickle Jar Theory

This is the Pickle Jar Theory of prioritization.  Just like the experiment with the pickle jar, if you fill your pickle jar with sand, you wind up filling your day with tasks that are unimportant.  And, if that happens, you won’t have room for the more important things.  But, if you fill the jar with stones, you will have plenty of room between those rocks to add some pebbles.  If you add some pebbles in the extra space, you will have room for sand on top.  And, if you were to shake things up a bit, the sand, rocks, and pebbles would settle, and you would find you have even more room for sand.

Vow now to take better advantage of your time management from this moment on. Before you go to sleep tonight, think of several action items that you can do tomorrow. Write these on a list. They will be your priorities - your stones. Think of a few more fairly important activities. These are secondary tasks, and they will be the pebbles that you fit in when you can. Finally, the sand will fit in the pickle jar at the end.

Set some priorities. What is most important to you? Is it family? Is it earning money? Is it health-related? Decide what your goals will be, and allow these elements to devour most of your time. They should be your top priority. Put them in the container first. Next, decide what you want to do if you have additional time. Ideas might include volunteering, being involved in the community, or spending time with friends. These are the pebbles, which will be enjoyed after the top priorities have been accomplished. Finally, you can add the other details to your schedule. These would be the nice things to do. They might even be urgent, just not important. These incidental activities might include a trip to the break room to get a coffee. They are important, but not instrumental in accomplishing the main priorities.

Each person is given 24 hours in each day, which is the fixed amount of room in the pickle jar. First, add the important stones, based on the priorities that you have set. You might ask yourself, “If I were to go on vacation next week, what is the one thing I have to do before I leave? Then, if I have more time, what else should I do?” Repeat this process until you identify your top priorities.  You don’t have to prioritize everything in your life, just enough to set your next target.  When you have more time or when things come up, you can figure out where they settle using prioritization techniques such as Pareto prioritization, Maslow time management or the Eisenhower matrix.

Add your stones to the pickle jar carefully, you can’t fit many in at one time. Time management is tricky. Unless you prioritize your efforts so the stones get in the pickle jar first, you will not have room for them. These are important in life, whether they are obstacles or priorities to accomplish. Pay attention to these priorities and let the sand fill in the cracks.