The Mayonnaise Jar and 2 Cups of Coffee

I received a little gem of an email from my wife this morning. Normally I wouldn't publish stuff like this, but I liked the message... and the emphasis on golf. :)

When things in your life seem almost too much to handle,
when 24 hours in a day are not enough, remember the mayonnaise jar and the 2 cups of coffee.

A professor stood before his class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, he wordlessly picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with an unanimous "yes"

The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed.

"Now," said the professor as the laughter subsided, "I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls
are the important things---God, your family, your children, your health, your friends and your favorite passions---and if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full."

The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house and your car.

The sand is everything else---the small stuff. "If you put the sand into the jar first," he continued, "there is no room for the
pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you."

"Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Spend time with your children. Spend time with your parents. Visit with grandparents. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your spouse out to dinner. Play another 18. There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal. Take care of the golf balls first---the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand."

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the coffee represented. The professor smiled. "I'm glad you asked. It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there's always room for a couple of cups of coffee with a
friend."

Tee-ing it up

Hello world. You've been lucky enough to stumble across my blog. Some introductions first. My name is Zan and I've set this blog up to detail my golfing journey / progress. I don't really have any grand plans of trying to make the PGA tour or anything like that ... maybe just a seniors tour somewhere in the world. :)

I live in sunny Perth, Australia. Pretty good place if you're a golf lover. Plenty of sunshine (sometimes too much) in summer and still golfable (??) in winter. I mainly frequent a course south of the river called Collier Park. It's one of the better public courses in Perth with 27 holes. Sometimes I think it's too easy a course and might give me a false sense of how good I really am. So one of my aims this year is to play on more different courses.

I've been playing the game now for 6 or so years, and never got myself an official handicap until a few weeks ago. I was expecting a 14-15 handicap but I got given a 12. That's better than what I expected, and against what everyone was telling me to do. "Aim for a 20 something handicap and then just beat everyone (get some trophies) as you slowly play to what you really are". Erm... maybe not.. I don't quite think that's fair on the others and it's just doesn't sit right with me.

So now my main golf goal for the year is to maybe reduce my hc down to 10 (or even single digits). Is that possible in one year? Perhaps. Who knows... I might even get worse :)