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 overachievers 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.

If you had a bank that credited $86,400 to your account each morning, carried over the balance from day to day, allowed you to keep no cash in your account at the end of 24 hours, canceled out whatever part of that amount you failed to use, what would you do?

Try to spend every cent, of course! Well, everyone does have such a bank, and its name is TIME. Every morning it credits you with 86,400 seconds.