Make Learning English A Priority

What is a priority?

A priority is something that is very important to you.

How do you decide what your priorities are? And how do you manage many priorities in one life?

I will tell you a story.

A young man had many things to do. Everything felt important! He needed money. He needed a wife. He needed a job and he needed to exercise and he needed to take out the trash and call his mother and go to Safeway and buy medicine for his sick sister and tie his shoes and go to college. He needed so many things and he didn't have enough time and his live was a mess and he felt frustrated, bad, sad, mad and discouiraged. He needed help.

He went to visit his grandfather. "What should I do?" he asked him.

The old man gave the young man a jar and a pile of rocks, gravel, and sand.

"Put these things in the jar," he told his grandson

The young man tried to do this. He put everything in and shook the jar and he moved things around but he could not get everything in the jar.

"Dump it out," the old man told him. "Now give it here."

The old man put the biggest rocks in the jar first. Then he put in the smaller rocks. Then the gravel. He shook the jar a little so the gravel fell into the spaces between the rocks. Then he scooped up the sand and poured it in. The sand filled in all the little empty places.

The jar was completely full. Nothing was empty. Nothing spilled out.

"There," said the old man. "That is how you should live your life. Decide what is most important. What is the beginning of everything? What things make the foundation for everything else? Those are your priorities. Take care of them first. Then take care of the smaller priorities. Last, do the little things - if you have time. If you don't, don't worry about it. Worry never fixes anything. Worry keeps you busy so you don't have to fix something or accept that it is broken and move on."

The young man thanked his grandfather. He tried to follow this way. His life was better.

Many students tell me they need a better job. They want to help their families. They want a better life. If you live in the U.S., then English is the way to all these things. English is the foundation. English is communication. And communication is how we make our way in the world.

Make learning English a priority. Make time for watching your DVD and doing your homework a priority. English lessons will help you get a better job. English lessons will help you help your family. Watching TV in your first language will not do this. It is fun and it is good. But it is not the foundation to a better life.

Put learning English in the jar first.