How I Find Time to Write Anything
The 24-hour day is like the proverbial jar of shells. It is a fairly common analogy but for the sake of those who haven’t heard of it, I will share a summary.
One day a teacher filled a glass jar with shells and asked the students if the jar was filled. They all answered, “YES.” The teacher then poured sand into the jar until it filled up the spaces between the shells. When the teacher had filled the jar to the brim with sand, the teacher again asked the students if the jar was filled. Again, they all answered, “YES.” Then the teacher took a cup of water and poured it into the jar, once again filling it to the brim.
I am sure you get the analogy now. The jar appears filled, depending on what it is being filled with. But at every point in time, there is always space in the jar — it just depends on how you look at it, and what you are filling it with.
This analogy is perfectly suited to my new appreciation of the 24-hour day. The day is the jar, and what you do every day is how you fill it up. If you woke up at 6, spent 3 hours in traffic, spent 8 hours at your desk working, spent 2 hours in traffic on your way back home, and watched TV for 3 hours before going back to bed, that is how you’ve filled up your day.
But is the day ‘really’ filled up, HELL NO!
