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We have all heard of the word "Moderation" while at college, haven't we !! In today's jet set life nothing can be more beneficial  than living a life of moderation and striking a crucial balance between work and personal life. There is more to life than just work. While work (career and ambition) can get the necessary money, name and fame life wouldn't  become complete without family, health, pleasure, leisure, social activities, relaxation and recreation. Today however work has invaded personal life. When our work life and personal life are out of balance stress levels are likely to escalate which would eventually affect our emotions and finally our health and hence the quality of our lives. There was a time when there was a clear demarcation between work and home; today however work has invaded our personal life !! Maintaining work-life balance is no simple task but isn't out of reach.  The consequences of poor work-life balance would establish fatigue and when we are tired the productivity would not be good, clarity of thinking would not be good which would result in earning a poor reputation or lead to costly mistakes. The quality of our thoughts determine the quality of our lives. If we are working so hard we could even miss out on important family events or milestones, difficult to maintain relationships and friendships. Always work and no play makes Jack a dull boy is a proverb which means that a person would become bore sooner or later and also boring !! The choicest pleasures of life lie within the ring of moderation. 

Goals should be set to lead our lives in a proper direction. Long term goals are top priority for everyone but with every immediate challenge we often lose sight of of our goals. In order to stay on course of our goals we have to set Priorities and so planning is very essential and when we know why we have planned the how to control also surfaces. As we prepare the "to do" list we also have to prepare "a not to do list" and this way we could stay on the preferred path. More than 75% of the "to do" items are normally insignificant so we should concentrate on the balance 25% of the"to do" list and do them.  

The teacher places a jar in front of his class and tells the students. "This is your life he said looking at the jar" You could fill it up with whatever you wish. He then takes some rocks from a bag and keeps them one by one inside the jar. He explained that the rocks are the big things in our life our life and gives meaning to our life - our family, our partner, our children, our health, our hope, our dream and are Primary things in our lives.Then from another bag he took a pebbles and kept them inside the jar and shakes the jar so that the pebbles occupied the spaces between the rocks. This he explained are the secondary things which gives life its meaning but perhaps not our life's work. The pebbles represent the job, our house, our friendship The teacher then takes the other bag containing sand and empties it between the pebbles so that they occupy almost all the crevices and finally filled it up with water from the pitcher. The sand and water he explained are little stuff that occupies our time like watching TV endlessly, running errands, chatting. Our life would have purpose and meaning if we start filling the jar with the rocks first and not with sand and water !! Of course some sand and water are required for cementing but if we have too much of it we might not be able to do big things. This story reminds of life and work. If you take care of the big issues first, the small ones would fall into place but the reverse is not the case. As with most things prioritization is the key... 

So my dear friends, All the best to achieve your goals, maintain the critical balance between life and work by prioritizing your life's activities.