Embracing the Final Summer Days – Anderson Connect

The last official month of the summer is upon us. What will we focus on in these sunny days before we welcome in the season of fall? Who will we share the moments with? How can we more keenly appreciate our own efforts, recognize and embrace those who are supporting and uplifting us as we achieve these long-held dreams? And how can we squeeze a few more precious moments into our days?

This month’s Connect focuses on the minutes, or jellybeans, we do have and, we hope, empowers you to consider how you’ll savour them and spend them!

As students, you know full well that the investment you are making now in your future will give you limitless opportunities to expand your potential and the financial stability that comes with that, for you and for your loved ones. But in it all, we want to keep our eye on where we’re placing our priorities, so we ensure that the adventure is fulfilling all along the way, in every possible way!

To your big rocks, candy-covered moments and celebrating what means the most to you in every second!

Today’s read is approximately 4 minutes.

Inside this Edition:

• A Thought to Ponder
• A Short Story to Inspire
• A Short Video to Motivate

A Thought to Ponder

“To change your life, you need to change your priorities.” — Mark Twain

As dedicated Anderson College students you’ve got a keen understanding of exactly what this means and the impact it has on your life. You’ve prioritized education and your investment in yourself to build a better future, for yourself and, so often, for those you love. This quote then, is perhaps just a little reminder that as you’re making those massive dreams come true that you simply pause at times, in the busy, to give a high-five to those in it with you, and words of genuine acknowledgment for those empowering you on the adventure.

A Short Story to Inspire

Big Rocks of Life
A philosophy professor stood before his class with a large, empty glass jar. He filled the jar with golf ball-sized rocks and then asked his class if the jar was full. Seeing clearly that the jar couldn’t take any more of those rocks, most students admitted that, yes, the jar was full.

But then he took out a bucket of smaller, marble-and pea-sized pebbles and gently poured them into the main glass jar. They cascaded around the bigger rocks, filling in the gaps and crevasses. The professor then asked again: “Is the jar full?”. The students, now convinced that nothing else could fit into the jar, more emphatically declared that the jar was indeed full. But the professor then pulled out a bucket of sand and began pouring it into the main jar. The sand flowed around the rocks and pebbles, filling in previously unnoticed gaps and holes.

The professor the declares that the jar is a metaphor for one’s life. “The big rocks signify the most important things in your life, such as family, health, relationships, happiness, and purpose. If the pebbles and sand weren’t added, the jar would still be “full,” and your life would still have great meaning. The pebbles are the other things that matter in your life —like your home or car or other personal property. And the sand represents all the “small stuff” in life. They are “fillers” — sometimes required, but usually not critical, essential, or important in the big scheme of things.

“Unfortunately, these fillers often consume a lot of your time and attention if you’re not making conscious decisions about what you deeply value in your life. There are probably a million examples of the sand in your daily lives: doing chores around the house, watching TV, screentime, posting on social media etc… Some of these tasks bring temporary joy but some waste a huge amount of the time you do have in any given day.”

The professor ends the lecture with, “We must be willing to see the metaphor of this in our own lives and make conscious choices about our priorities, our big rocks, every day. This is what leads to a fulfilling life.”

~ A Fable Relayed by Stephen Covey

The Moral of the Story ~ If you start by putting sand into the jar, you won’t have room for the pebbles or rocks. Which is the same in life; if you spend all your time on the small and insignificant things, you’ll run out of room (time) for the things that are more important. Therefore, to have a more fulfilling life, you must prioritize and invest more time on what’s truly important and of value for you, personally and professionally, filling in the pebbles and sand later when you can. Also, a grand element of this is, that once those big priorities are set, you can so often squeeze a little more sand, or precious moments, in.

1 Short Video to Motivate

The Time You Have – In Jellybeans | The Moments We Have to Embrace the Priorities of Our Lives. |

May your month be filled with jellybeans and moments that celebrate the choices you’ve made and the life trajectory you’re on. And may you enjoy every second in the sun, with those you study with, and share your life with.
And don’t forget the sunscreen 😉 …

~ Your Anderson College Family

Anderson College acknowledges that the places in which our 11 campuses reside, across Ontario and in British Columbia, are in the traditional territories of a diverse range of Indigenous peoples, the first peoples, who have been stewards of this land since time immemorial. We are deeply honoured and privileged to study, work and educate on these lands. For a full acknowledgement for each campus region, please visit staging21.andersoncollege.com/newsite/landacknowledgements.