Pickle Jar Theory in Time Management

The?Pickle Jar theory?is basically based on the idea that time, like a?pickle jar, time is limited. Our life is the jar and what is in it, the volume or space is limited.

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?Every day, everyone fills out time with important, less important and unimportant activities. The Pickle Jar Theory serves as a visual figurative expression, to determine what is the important and what is not important. It helps you to set your priorities for daily life and plan tasks in such a way, that you have time to spare instead of too few hours in the day.

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This Theory is popular for time management. The Theory is about a big glass pickle jar that is filled with a large number of fist-sized rocks, pebbles and a lot of sand. Rocks, Pebbles and Sand has a purpose in the?Pickle Jar Theory. The pickle jar itself represents our daily life, what keeps us engage and how we divide our time and activates during the day. The Pickle Jar Theory helps you visualize your priorities, as well as the amount and size of tasks that can be done realistically on a given day. There are no charts or massive organizers to haul around. It’s just a simple technique that helps you get the work done with less stress.

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The sand?– it represents all the phone calls, emails, social media notifications and other disrupting elements.

The pebbles- it metaphorically stands for the jobs we’re confronted with every day and that fill our diaries.

The rocks- it represent the important tasks in our daily lives. There’ll be serious consequences if we fail to do the latter tasks.

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The Pickle Jar Theory is a visual metaphor designed to help set priorities over the course of a day. While many people have applied it to their own personal lives, it’s especially useful when talking about companies due to the sheer volume of wasted time on minor tasks.

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It means you need to prioritize. Your day should start with a concrete plan to get those essential “rock” tasks done, no matter what. After that, you should figure out a way to work the smaller “pebble” tasks in, and on a day when that’s not possible, you need a plan to delegate or reschedule then. Finally, you let those little emails, chats and calls seep their way into your defined schedule, rather than being what defines it.

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We encourage you to implement the Pickle Jar Theory, whether it is in your work or personal life.

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Thanks.

Sundarraj.S

Leadership Coaching, HR Strategist, OD expertise.