How to Prioritize the Important Things in Life

“When what is important has already gone into your planning, everything unimportant will automatically get done.”

“As a student sometimes, it gets difficult to manage everything, including extracurriculars, studying and health and everything. How does one manage to accommodate everything into twenty-four hours?”

It’s not as a student. That alone we will remove. Including Narendra Modi, everybody has this, how to manage everything in twenty-four hours?

We’ll just do a small visualization experiment. OK? What’s your name? Advaith, okay. Advaith can you visualize an empty fish tank right now? Can you visualize it’s empty? Okay. I take a few fist-sized rocks and I start putting all these fist-sized rocks there. Okay.

And there’s a gap here. There’s a gap here. Can you see now the fish tank is full with fist-sized rocks? It’s not a fish tank. It’s a glass tank because there’s no fish here. Okay. Now I take a bucket full of pebbles and start pouring these pebbles, the pebbles will find gaps between fist-sized rocks. Okay.

Now, I take a bucket of sand and start pouring sand. Sand will find gap between fist-sized rocks and pebbles. Now I take a bucket of water and pour. Water will find. Now, once this tank is full with water, can I add anything more? I cannot add anything more without displacing what is already there.

Let’s do one more experiment, Advaith. Can you visualize another empty glass tank? I take a bucket of water and pour and fill this tank with water. Can I add even a single fist-sized rock without displacing water? Not possible. Or for that matter, I take sand and fill this entire tank.

Now water can go in. But pebbles or fist-sized rocks cannot go in. As a rule as far as mastery of time is concerned, if first things go first, then there’s always time for everything else.

If last things go first, then there’s no time for anything else.

For example, if you ask me, Advaith, right now, “Mahatria, do you watch movies?”. Of course I watch movies. When? I don’t know. Depends. If you asked me, “Mahatria, do you go to stadium to watch a match?”. Oh, of course, yes. When? I don’t know. Depends. “Mahatria, do you gossip?” Of course. I get course material from there. All these reference only from gossip I collect. “So when do you gossip?”. I don’t know. Depends. I don’t know this. “Mahatria, do you watch TV?” Of course. “When do you watch TV?” I don’t know. Depends.

But if you ask me, “Mahatria, do you take satsangs?” Yes. Every Sunday morning, seven to nine, one fist-sized rock is already sitting there. For nothing I will miss this, because this is important to me.

“Mahatria, do you write in infinithoughts and every month bring out infinithoughts?” Yes. “So what is the time that you give to write your own cover stories for infinithoughts? You said lot of things to be done.”

My parents live with me, Advaith, and they will never complain I’m not there for them. My family is with me and they will never complain I’m not there for them. I do exercises. I bring out a magazine. I run an organization.

Nobody is going to complain, OK? It’s going to happen. For example, relationship should not be seen as a status. It should be seen as a responsibility, is the agenda I wanted to cover today. That was fist-sized rock. Question-answer session for me is pebbles. So I’m asking. Now, I’ve answered three questions.

Maybe I would have answered only one question, but that was OK for me. A web cast of an infinipath is watched by 1.2 million people in hundred and twenty-five countries right now. In fact, Advaith’s was just now watched by 1.2 million people. Okay? Adjust your collar a little bit, okay?

And who knows who all have got inspired, this one incident for them to look at things differently?

The mistake for us is, if I ask you, “Do you gossip?”, you’ll say… You means you, not you, OK? They will say, okay? “Yeah, yeah! Every evening we friends meet between six to seven.” “Every day?” “Every day. We always we are together.” “So what do you do?”

“Just like that, we keep talking.”

Like this for two years, a few of your friends will be simply talking, not realizing the prime of your youth, instead of getting invested in your growth and development, will simply get wasted. Nothing will come out of this!

These activities will not create your future. One day you would have discussed, long time back you would have discussed Dhoni, now you will discuss Kohli. Earlier you would discuss Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, now you will be discussing Ranbir Kapoor.

And like this, life will go off, like this. You’re so interested in, India should win, India should win. A cricket match between Kenya and Ireland, you’ll sit and watch. The families of these cricketers themselves are not watching it. OK? But you’ll sit and watch the whole thing.

So one Pro Kabaddi was so beautifully projected and built. Now, you have never followed kabaddi in your whole life.

One hour, you will sit and watch kabaddi. Then he will project football. One hour you will watch football.

Then one WWF will come. Everybody will throw everybody on the ground, that you will sit and watch.

Not realizing, whether Indian cricket team wins or not, this Indian has to separately win. Indian cricket team’s victory will never become Advaith’s victory! Advaith’s victory only is Advaith’s victory. And you’ll keep on like this.

So what happens when I talk to people is, their gossip time is fixed. “Do you watch movies?” “Every Saturday evening.”

“Very good.”

“So do you watch TV?” “Yeah, there are five programs I will never miss. This news telecast, that mega-serial…” Mega serial, and mega serial is about four hundred days ago, that guy took a knife and started. Four hundred days later, he is still coming with knife! And especially for all of them, on Friday, he has lifted the knife. Whole Saturday, Sunday that thinking, what will happen now? Nothing will happen.

Another two hundred days he will walk like this. Now because water, pebbles and sand have already filled half this tank, now when I have to exercise, when I have to study, when I have to develop… Even in adults, second line leadership. When I have to practise my talent to sharpen my talent, there’s no time. When what is not important is already disciplined into your time, what is important will never find time in your life. Never find time in your life!

On the contrary, if what is important in your life is disciplined into this, if it’s absolutely disciplined into this. Put all those things in place. Let everything be where it has to be.

Once that whole thing has been put in place, then everything else will automatically find its place. So your extracurricular activities, your studies…

Plan those times, and you’ll be stunned to know that everything happens. When what is important has already gone into your planning, everything unimportant will automatically get done. When what is unimportant is already planned, then you will never find for what is important in life. The skill of time leadership is very simple.

First things first. Last things will take care of it, themselves.