6 ms·

Father and Daughter Reunion

73 points by aaronjg 12y ago

chollida1 12y ago
For those that don't follow the bond markets, his former company, Pimco, would be the Google or Microsoft of bond traders. Tangentially, Bill Gross, the other pillar of Pimco just announced today that he was leaving as well. Pimco's funds are reportedly being hammered with withdraws. Estimates are that they could loose up to 30% of their managed assets, and with almost 2 trillion managed that's market moving news!! See: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/pimco-withdrawals-could-hit-30-per-cent-as-money-managers-stunned-by-departure/article20805645/ http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/pimco-with... So if you think you are having a bad day...... Imagine you are at Google and in the span of a few months both Larry and then Sergey unexpectedly announce they are leaving. > Mr El-Erian used to leave home for work at 4.30am each morning I always wondered why someone who trades in the markets would live out West where you need to be ready at 6:30 for the market open. I'm guessing someone has a smart ass comment lined up about how being around for your kids should be the default, or how if they made 100 million in a year that they'd quit too, but I think articles like this are good, in that it reminds hard charging people to stop and look around once in a while.
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
- flatline 12y ago
  > if they made 100 million in a year that they'd quit too That is certainly one option that affords one more time at home. On the other hand, quitting or even changing your schedule is probably impossible for a good share of the American labor force. There is however a sector of the work force that's in the middle of these two extremes, and is one which many HNers fall into. Many of us can -- and many do -- simply take a less demanding job or cut back one's responsibilities at the current job. Many times this can be done without any loss of pay and hence impediment to an otherwise comfortable lifestyle. However, this greatly reduces one's chances of climbing the corporate ladder, or making a huge exit on a startup, or whatever your motivation to work long hours may be. So I agree, it's a good article, because while money affords some near-total freedom and hamstrings others, it is not the primary factor for a lot of people who may not otherwise stop to seriously think of taking a step back.
- hijinks 12y ago
  i leave for work at 5:30am and I have two kids. Its really to be at work a full day so I can leave at 3. I value spending dinner time and getting my kids to bed more then breakfast time with them. Then again I'm sure he's not leaving the office at 3.. probably is there till 7 or 8
- morley 12y ago
  > Pimco would be the Google or Microsoft of bond traders Do you mean by company size, reputation for innovation (or lack thereof), or some other parameter?
  - anigbrowl 12y ago
    Funds under management is the usual metric in finance.
  - hluska 12y ago
    Pimco has roughly $2 trillion in assets under management which makes them one of the largest investment managers in the world. Time Magazine says that Pimco Total Return was the United States' biggest fixed income fund. sources: http://time.com/money/3432798/bill-gross-pimco-what-to-do/ http://time.com/money/3432798/bill-gross-pimco-what-to-do/ http://www.pimco.com/EN/OurFirm/Pages/OurFirmOverview.aspx http://www.pimco.com/EN/OurFirm/Pages/OurFirmOverview.aspx
- 300bps 12y ago
  I always wondered why someone who trades in the markets would live out West where you need to be ready at 6:30 for the market open The equity market opens at 9:30 Eastern which, as you said, requires being ready by 6:30 Pacific. Since we're discussing bond markets though, you should be aware that the markets we trade in typically start trading by 8:00 am Eastern. We primarily trade via Bloomberg FIET, MarketAxess and TradeWeb. We trade about $4 billion per day. The head of fixed income at my investment bank chews out any IT person that is unaware of this fact. It's his pet peeve after being told for decades by IT people, "What's the big deal if the system wasn't up until 9 am? The market doesn't open until 9:30!"
- vonnik 12y ago
  I have a hard time believing this is why El-Erian really left the company. The WSJ's revelations this week that PIMCO and Gross have under scrutiny by the SEC for over a year suggest that El-Erian got out while he could preserve his reputation.
dang 12y ago
Url changed from http://www.9news.com.au/world/2014/09/25/06/42/high-flying-ceo-quits-after-daughter-sends-him-22-things-he-missed http://www.9news.com.au/world/2014/09/25/06/42/high-flying-c....
lotsofmangos 12y ago
Reminds me a lot of Calvin's 'Dad Polls' - http://calvinethobbes.free.fr/images/polls2.gif http://calvinethobbes.free.fr/images/polls2.gif Is also an instructive example of why it is so hard to predict the markets. Sometimes the markets are dependent on pissed-off ten year olds.
lsc 12y ago
Yeah... my assumption when an executive says they are leaving to "spend more time with my family" is still that they were asked to leave and are trying to be graceful about it. (I mean, I know nothing about bond markets. It could very well be sincere in this case. I'm just saying, my immediate impression, when a top person says they are leaving to spend more time with their family, is to extend my sympathy at, you know, getting canned) Maybe it is just my experience at Yahoo in the mid aughts. It seemed like every three months, a top exec was "leaving to spend more time with my family" I mean, being graceful about getting pushed out is a good thing for all involved, and it seems like the leaving letters are getting more convincing lately, which is fine, but... yeah, I'm still not buying it.
- ConfuciusSay 12y ago
  Or conversely, he knows the bond markets are going to take a beating when interest rates rise and wants to get out while his reputation is intact.
  - lsc 12y ago
    I think it's obvious that rising interest rates are bad for the bond market? I am not an expert and could be wrong, but I think that's one of the basic bits of the bond market that someone like me is capable of understanding. The special knowledge would be knowledge of when interest rates will rise... and if you had that knowledge... god damn, you could make some money. The yield curve is not currently negative... but it still seems pretty flat to a non-expert like me[1] - which I believe signals a belief (on the part of people buying bonds) that rates are going to stay low for a long time. (and that the economy is going to be shit for a long time.) [1]http://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/data-chart-center/interest-rates/Pages/TextView.aspx?data=realyieldYear&year=2014 http://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/data-chart-center/in...
  - deleted 12y ago
    [deleted]
  - lsc 12y ago
    See what Krugman had to say about Bill Gross (this guy's boss) leaving. http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/09/29/nobody-could-have-predicted-bill-gross-edition/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0 http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/09/29/nobody-could-hav... so... it sounds like his boss got pushed out because he made the bet that bonds were going to take a beating... and he was wrong.
mfringel 12y ago
It's definitely one of the better crafted "spend more time with the family" announcements. Barring other evidence, there's no particular reason to believe this is different than any other executive who is being encouraged to resign from their organization.
jpeg_hero 12y ago
I condemn this! Opprobrium on you Mr. El-Erian. You were one of the truly talented people in this world, and your efforts helped bolster this shared undertaking called civilization. And now, in an act of selfish indulgence, you've decided to turn your back on your rare talents, and instead provide very simple child rearing ("I now alternate with my wife in waking up our daughter every morning, preparing her breakfast and driving her to school.") to a single one of the 73.98 million children in the US (http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=united+states+population+under+age+18 http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=united+states+populatio...) This is not my values, and we should not venerate this man for his selfish choices.
rayiner 12y ago
I appreciate the sentiment of the article, but I hate that our culture plays up this idea that being a good parent means being there for all the arbitrary "milestones." I honestly don't remember if my dad was there or not on my first day of school, etc. I sure as hell remember that he called me when I got home from school every day to make sure I was okay and not getting into trouble. You're not going to be able to convince corporate America that a kid's dance recital is more important than a client meeting. All you'll do by stressing that dance recital is make busy parents feel bad for not being able to live up to some ideal, or discourage ambitious people from having kids because they think they can't be good parents too. You'll get a lot further trying to push back on ideas like "face time" or competing on who can take the least vacation. Don't have much work? Go home at 2 and take your kid to a museum. That's just as valuable as your being there for an arbitrary "milestone."
- kenjackson 12y ago
  Everything in life is kind of arbitrary. We apply meaning to events. There are certain events that we apply special meaning to. The first day of school is bigger for parents than kids. Its a sign of their child growing up. But I had a friend who played basketball. His dad never came to see him play through about 100 HS games because of work. To him these were milestones, and to this day (20 years later) he holds this against his dad.
- kaitai 12y ago
  What if the kid cares?
  - rayiner 12y ago
    What if the kid cares because the culture makes a big deal out of it? IMHO, kids should just be kids, not have all this organized, scheduled shit anyway.
    - sologoub 12y ago
      Where was an article not too long ago on HN about the benefits of "unstructured play" and how we are creating much more stressed out and a lot less adjusted kids by denying them that historic social practice of just figuring out their social place within their social group, independent of the social position of their parents. Wish I had saved the link...
onaclov2000 12y ago
I'll be honest, I'm not even in a demanding job and but my wife and I are both full time employed and I have been struggling with this (our little ones are not even school age yet). Personally handing my child over to another for raising is and has been difficult, I'm not sure whether it's something I'll continue to do, or if it's something I'll regret when I'm older. Time will tell.
- onaclov2000 12y ago
  Recently spoke with my boss, and for a few months I am going to be on a part work from home and part work from work, it was really nice they were willing to work this out, still don't know how I'll feel come january, but this gives me a little more time to make that decision.
libria 12y ago
> hopefully, as companies give more attention to the importance of work-life balance, more and more people will be in a better position to decide and act more holistically on what’s important to them. I see no signs of the US economy rewarding life-balanced underproducers, or of companies altruistically shouldering this moral burden. Spare time is not a right, quality time is a luxury. Every individual chooses how much time they are willing to trade for success/compensation. It will be difficult to convince companies and consumers that this is their problem.
- SnacksOnAPlane 12y ago
  This is a shortsighted view, I think. More spare time can mean more novel inputs for your mind to process, which results in more creativity, which results in better performance in (some) jobs. Certainly in programming jobs. I think we'd be a more productive nation if we all took a 1-month summer break, like they do in some European countries.
frenchman_in_ny 12y ago
Walking away from it all seems fairly easy when you're making $100m+ per year and you don't have to worry about making ends meet. That work-life balance is sometimes a bit more of a razor's edge (depending on industry) -- tilt a bit too much towards the "life" side and you may suddenly find yourself with a bunch of unexpected free time to spend with family.
MattWard 12y ago
thats awesome....so much better for it
MattWard 12y ago
thats awesome....so much better for it
MattWard 12y ago
thats awesome....so much better for it
param 12y ago
My parents didn't attend a majority of events for me, for example, I told my mom in 12th grade (in India) - you are going to miss never ever having attended a PTA meeting for me, and the last one is coming up, so you better go. Then she went. I remember coming 70th in a Geography olympiad in my city (New Delhi, current population 27M), and me going alone to receive the award. All the way to my Convocation, Masters from IITD, which (bloody hell) even I didn't attend - I was too busy working to fly back out - (this one I sometimes feel bad about). Net net, my parents never attended shit BUT most importantly I don't feel bad about it; ever. On the other hand, my wife's dad is a busy industrialist, even he never attended anything. Her mom did though. Her view of it is completely different. She feels very very bad about her dad not being there, to the point that she forces me to attend all of our kids school events, even when I think some are not that important. I guess it depends on your personality and how you respond to things around you.
EddyTaylor 12y ago
Hi Everyone, I truly appreciate and agree with this article. If we are not giving time to our loved ones and only lost in this corporate world, what is the sense of making money? For whom we are working night and day? It would be selfishness if our priority is only our work. For me, family is the most important thing than comes your work. Read this short story and I think it will affect you guys too. One day, an expert in time management was speaking to a group of business students and, to drive home a point, used an illustration those students will never forget. As he stood in front of the group of high-powered over-achievers he said, "Okay, time for a quiz" and he pulled out a one-gallon, wide-mouth mason jar and set it on the table in front of him. He also produced about a dozen fist-sized rocks and carefully placed them, one at a time, into the jar. When the jar was filled to the top and no more rocks would fit inside, he asked, "Is this jar full?" Everyone in the class yelled, "Yes." The time management expert replied, "Really?" He reached under the table and pulled out a bucket of gravel. He dumped some gravel in and shook the jar causing pieces of gravel to work themselves down into the spaces between the big rocks. He then asked the group once more, "Is the jar full?" By this time the class was on to him. "Probably not," one of them answered. "Good!" he replied. He reached under the table and brought out a bucket of sand. He started dumping the sand in the jar and it went into all of the spaces left between the rocks and the gravel. Once more he asked the question, "Is this jar full?" "No!" the class shouted. Once again he said, "Good." Then he grabbed a pitcher of water and began to pour it in until the jar was filled to the brim. Then he looked at the class and asked, "What is the point of this illustration?" One eager beaver raised his hand and said, "The point is, no matter how full your schedule is, if you try really hard you can always fit some more things in it!" "No," the speaker replied, "that's not the point. The truth this illustration teaches us is, "If you don't put the big rocks in first, you'll never get them in at all. What are the 'big rocks' in your life, time with loved ones, your faith, your education, your dreams, a worthy cause, teaching or mentoring others? Remember to put these BIG ROCKS in first or you'll never get them in at all. So, tonight, or in the morning, when you are reflecting on this short story, ask yourself this question, "What are the 'big rocks' in my life?" Then, put those in your jar first. If this inspired you, share with others so they can benefit!
jmathai 12y ago
The comments on this are pretty depressing. I'm hoping they're from folks without kids. This has very little to do with efficiency and optimization. This is probably an unpopular perspective but here goes anyways. If you've got kids and you're trying to figure out what they'll remember and not remember in order to maximize some theoretical value -- I urge you to take a step back and look at what really matters. It's too easy to get caught up in life. Especially in the US. And even more in Silicon Valley. You won't ever look back and wish you spent less time with your kids. Doesn't always matter if they remember it or not.

73 points by aaronjg 12y ago

For those that don't follow the bond markets, his former company, Pimco, would be the Google or Microsoft of bond traders. Tangentially, Bill Gross, the other pillar of Pimco just announced today that he was leaving as well. Pimco's funds are reportedly being hammered with withdraws. Estimates are that they could loose up to 30% of their managed assets, and with almost 2 trillion managed that's market moving news!! See: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/pimco-withdrawals-could-hit-30-per-cent-as-money-managers-stunned-by-departure/article20805645/ http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/pimco-with... So if you think you are having a bad day...... Imagine you are at Google and in the span of a few months both Larry and then Sergey unexpectedly announce they are leaving. > Mr El-Erian used to leave home for work at 4.30am each morning I always wondered why someone who trades in the markets would live out West where you need to be ready at 6:30 for the market open. I'm guessing someone has a smart ass comment lined up about how being around for your kids should be the default, or how if they made 100 million in a year that they'd quit too, but I think articles like this are good, in that it reminds hard charging people to stop and look around once in a while.

deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
flatline 12y ago
> if they made 100 million in a year that they'd quit too That is certainly one option that affords one more time at home. On the other hand, quitting or even changing your schedule is probably impossible for a good share of the American labor force. There is however a sector of the work force that's in the middle of these two extremes, and is one which many HNers fall into. Many of us can -- and many do -- simply take a less demanding job or cut back one's responsibilities at the current job. Many times this can be done without any loss of pay and hence impediment to an otherwise comfortable lifestyle. However, this greatly reduces one's chances of climbing the corporate ladder, or making a huge exit on a startup, or whatever your motivation to work long hours may be. So I agree, it's a good article, because while money affords some near-total freedom and hamstrings others, it is not the primary factor for a lot of people who may not otherwise stop to seriously think of taking a step back.
hijinks 12y ago
i leave for work at 5:30am and I have two kids. Its really to be at work a full day so I can leave at 3. I value spending dinner time and getting my kids to bed more then breakfast time with them. Then again I'm sure he's not leaving the office at 3.. probably is there till 7 or 8
morley 12y ago
> Pimco would be the Google or Microsoft of bond traders Do you mean by company size, reputation for innovation (or lack thereof), or some other parameter?
- anigbrowl 12y ago
  Funds under management is the usual metric in finance.
- hluska 12y ago
  Pimco has roughly $2 trillion in assets under management which makes them one of the largest investment managers in the world. Time Magazine says that Pimco Total Return was the United States' biggest fixed income fund. sources: http://time.com/money/3432798/bill-gross-pimco-what-to-do/ http://time.com/money/3432798/bill-gross-pimco-what-to-do/ http://www.pimco.com/EN/OurFirm/Pages/OurFirmOverview.aspx http://www.pimco.com/EN/OurFirm/Pages/OurFirmOverview.aspx
300bps 12y ago
I always wondered why someone who trades in the markets would live out West where you need to be ready at 6:30 for the market open The equity market opens at 9:30 Eastern which, as you said, requires being ready by 6:30 Pacific. Since we're discussing bond markets though, you should be aware that the markets we trade in typically start trading by 8:00 am Eastern. We primarily trade via Bloomberg FIET, MarketAxess and TradeWeb. We trade about $4 billion per day. The head of fixed income at my investment bank chews out any IT person that is unaware of this fact. It's his pet peeve after being told for decades by IT people, "What's the big deal if the system wasn't up until 9 am? The market doesn't open until 9:30!"
vonnik 12y ago
I have a hard time believing this is why El-Erian really left the company. The WSJ's revelations this week that PIMCO and Gross have under scrutiny by the SEC for over a year suggest that El-Erian got out while he could preserve his reputation.

dang 12y ago

Url changed from http://www.9news.com.au/world/2014/09/25/06/42/high-flying-ceo-quits-after-daughter-sends-him-22-things-he-missed http://www.9news.com.au/world/2014/09/25/06/42/high-flying-c....

lotsofmangos 12y ago

Reminds me a lot of Calvin's 'Dad Polls' - http://calvinethobbes.free.fr/images/polls2.gif http://calvinethobbes.free.fr/images/polls2.gif Is also an instructive example of why it is so hard to predict the markets. Sometimes the markets are dependent on pissed-off ten year olds.

lsc 12y ago

Yeah... my assumption when an executive says they are leaving to "spend more time with my family" is still that they were asked to leave and are trying to be graceful about it. (I mean, I know nothing about bond markets. It could very well be sincere in this case. I'm just saying, my immediate impression, when a top person says they are leaving to spend more time with their family, is to extend my sympathy at, you know, getting canned) Maybe it is just my experience at Yahoo in the mid aughts. It seemed like every three months, a top exec was "leaving to spend more time with my family" I mean, being graceful about getting pushed out is a good thing for all involved, and it seems like the leaving letters are getting more convincing lately, which is fine, but... yeah, I'm still not buying it.

ConfuciusSay 12y ago
Or conversely, he knows the bond markets are going to take a beating when interest rates rise and wants to get out while his reputation is intact.
- lsc 12y ago
  I think it's obvious that rising interest rates are bad for the bond market? I am not an expert and could be wrong, but I think that's one of the basic bits of the bond market that someone like me is capable of understanding. The special knowledge would be knowledge of when interest rates will rise... and if you had that knowledge... god damn, you could make some money. The yield curve is not currently negative... but it still seems pretty flat to a non-expert like me[1] - which I believe signals a belief (on the part of people buying bonds) that rates are going to stay low for a long time. (and that the economy is going to be shit for a long time.) [1]http://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/data-chart-center/interest-rates/Pages/TextView.aspx?data=realyieldYear&year=2014 http://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/data-chart-center/in...
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
- lsc 12y ago
  See what Krugman had to say about Bill Gross (this guy's boss) leaving. http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/09/29/nobody-could-have-predicted-bill-gross-edition/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0 http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/09/29/nobody-could-hav... so... it sounds like his boss got pushed out because he made the bet that bonds were going to take a beating... and he was wrong.

mfringel 12y ago

It's definitely one of the better crafted "spend more time with the family" announcements. Barring other evidence, there's no particular reason to believe this is different than any other executive who is being encouraged to resign from their organization.

jpeg_hero 12y ago

I condemn this! Opprobrium on you Mr. El-Erian. You were one of the truly talented people in this world, and your efforts helped bolster this shared undertaking called civilization. And now, in an act of selfish indulgence, you've decided to turn your back on your rare talents, and instead provide very simple child rearing ("I now alternate with my wife in waking up our daughter every morning, preparing her breakfast and driving her to school.") to a single one of the 73.98 million children in the US (http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=united+states+population+under+age+18 http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=united+states+populatio...) This is not my values, and we should not venerate this man for his selfish choices.

rayiner 12y ago

I appreciate the sentiment of the article, but I hate that our culture plays up this idea that being a good parent means being there for all the arbitrary "milestones." I honestly don't remember if my dad was there or not on my first day of school, etc. I sure as hell remember that he called me when I got home from school every day to make sure I was okay and not getting into trouble. You're not going to be able to convince corporate America that a kid's dance recital is more important than a client meeting. All you'll do by stressing that dance recital is make busy parents feel bad for not being able to live up to some ideal, or discourage ambitious people from having kids because they think they can't be good parents too. You'll get a lot further trying to push back on ideas like "face time" or competing on who can take the least vacation. Don't have much work? Go home at 2 and take your kid to a museum. That's just as valuable as your being there for an arbitrary "milestone."

kenjackson 12y ago
Everything in life is kind of arbitrary. We apply meaning to events. There are certain events that we apply special meaning to. The first day of school is bigger for parents than kids. Its a sign of their child growing up. But I had a friend who played basketball. His dad never came to see him play through about 100 HS games because of work. To him these were milestones, and to this day (20 years later) he holds this against his dad.
kaitai 12y ago
What if the kid cares?
- rayiner 12y ago
  What if the kid cares because the culture makes a big deal out of it? IMHO, kids should just be kids, not have all this organized, scheduled shit anyway.
  - sologoub 12y ago
    Where was an article not too long ago on HN about the benefits of "unstructured play" and how we are creating much more stressed out and a lot less adjusted kids by denying them that historic social practice of just figuring out their social place within their social group, independent of the social position of their parents. Wish I had saved the link...

onaclov2000 12y ago

I'll be honest, I'm not even in a demanding job and but my wife and I are both full time employed and I have been struggling with this (our little ones are not even school age yet). Personally handing my child over to another for raising is and has been difficult, I'm not sure whether it's something I'll continue to do, or if it's something I'll regret when I'm older. Time will tell.

onaclov2000 12y ago
Recently spoke with my boss, and for a few months I am going to be on a part work from home and part work from work, it was really nice they were willing to work this out, still don't know how I'll feel come january, but this gives me a little more time to make that decision.

libria 12y ago

> hopefully, as companies give more attention to the importance of work-life balance, more and more people will be in a better position to decide and act more holistically on what’s important to them. I see no signs of the US economy rewarding life-balanced underproducers, or of companies altruistically shouldering this moral burden. Spare time is not a right, quality time is a luxury. Every individual chooses how much time they are willing to trade for success/compensation. It will be difficult to convince companies and consumers that this is their problem.

SnacksOnAPlane 12y ago
This is a shortsighted view, I think. More spare time can mean more novel inputs for your mind to process, which results in more creativity, which results in better performance in (some) jobs. Certainly in programming jobs. I think we'd be a more productive nation if we all took a 1-month summer break, like they do in some European countries.

frenchman_in_ny 12y ago

Walking away from it all seems fairly easy when you're making $100m+ per year and you don't have to worry about making ends meet. That work-life balance is sometimes a bit more of a razor's edge (depending on industry) -- tilt a bit too much towards the "life" side and you may suddenly find yourself with a bunch of unexpected free time to spend with family.

MattWard 12y ago

thats awesome....so much better for it

MattWard 12y ago

thats awesome....so much better for it

MattWard 12y ago

thats awesome....so much better for it

param 12y ago

My parents didn't attend a majority of events for me, for example, I told my mom in 12th grade (in India) - you are going to miss never ever having attended a PTA meeting for me, and the last one is coming up, so you better go. Then she went. I remember coming 70th in a Geography olympiad in my city (New Delhi, current population 27M), and me going alone to receive the award. All the way to my Convocation, Masters from IITD, which (bloody hell) even I didn't attend - I was too busy working to fly back out - (this one I sometimes feel bad about). Net net, my parents never attended shit BUT most importantly I don't feel bad about it; ever. On the other hand, my wife's dad is a busy industrialist, even he never attended anything. Her mom did though. Her view of it is completely different. She feels very very bad about her dad not being there, to the point that she forces me to attend all of our kids school events, even when I think some are not that important. I guess it depends on your personality and how you respond to things around you.

EddyTaylor 12y ago

Hi Everyone, I truly appreciate and agree with this article. If we are not giving time to our loved ones and only lost in this corporate world, what is the sense of making money? For whom we are working night and day? It would be selfishness if our priority is only our work. For me, family is the most important thing than comes your work. Read this short story and I think it will affect you guys too. One day, an expert in time management was speaking to a group of business students and, to drive home a point, used an illustration those students will never forget. As he stood in front of the group of high-powered over-achievers he said, "Okay, time for a quiz" and he pulled out a one-gallon, wide-mouth mason jar and set it on the table in front of him. He also produced about a dozen fist-sized rocks and carefully placed them, one at a time, into the jar. When the jar was filled to the top and no more rocks would fit inside, he asked, "Is this jar full?" Everyone in the class yelled, "Yes." The time management expert replied, "Really?" He reached under the table and pulled out a bucket of gravel. He dumped some gravel in and shook the jar causing pieces of gravel to work themselves down into the spaces between the big rocks. He then asked the group once more, "Is the jar full?" By this time the class was on to him. "Probably not," one of them answered. "Good!" he replied. He reached under the table and brought out a bucket of sand. He started dumping the sand in the jar and it went into all of the spaces left between the rocks and the gravel. Once more he asked the question, "Is this jar full?" "No!" the class shouted. Once again he said, "Good." Then he grabbed a pitcher of water and began to pour it in until the jar was filled to the brim. Then he looked at the class and asked, "What is the point of this illustration?" One eager beaver raised his hand and said, "The point is, no matter how full your schedule is, if you try really hard you can always fit some more things in it!" "No," the speaker replied, "that's not the point. The truth this illustration teaches us is, "If you don't put the big rocks in first, you'll never get them in at all. What are the 'big rocks' in your life, time with loved ones, your faith, your education, your dreams, a worthy cause, teaching or mentoring others? Remember to put these BIG ROCKS in first or you'll never get them in at all. So, tonight, or in the morning, when you are reflecting on this short story, ask yourself this question, "What are the 'big rocks' in my life?" Then, put those in your jar first. If this inspired you, share with others so they can benefit!

jmathai 12y ago

The comments on this are pretty depressing. I'm hoping they're from folks without kids. This has very little to do with efficiency and optimization. This is probably an unpopular perspective but here goes anyways. If you've got kids and you're trying to figure out what they'll remember and not remember in order to maximize some theoretical value -- I urge you to take a step back and look at what really matters. It's too easy to get caught up in life. Especially in the US. And even more in Silicon Valley. You won't ever look back and wish you spent less time with your kids. Doesn't always matter if they remember it or not.