At the core of my current worldview is the understanding that the world we live in is random and without divine planning; it is a product of chance, not a guiding hand. Therefore, I believe that the meaning of life is not something we receive, but something we create. It is a human creation, a shared project of humanity and of every individual, in which we build our values and purpose with our own hands.

What do we do in this situation? In my opinion, the answer is not in searching for the one “correct path,” as there is no such thing. Instead, it is about understanding the reality we live in and trying to get the most out of it. The path to a better life is through a deep understanding of the challenges and opportunities before us. Our role is to learn about our soul, our body, and to manage our time and resources wisely, to avoid actions that harm us. Instead of saying what is right to do, we need to learn what can benefit us, and invest in that to make our lives happier and more fulfilling.

The Foundation for a Good Life: Body, Finance, and What’s Between Them

So, how do we learn? The first step is to recognize that there is no divine “instruction manual,” but that knowledge is a collection of insights, experiments, and conclusions that humanity has accumulated over the generations. Learning is not just limited to theoretical study; it is a continuous journey of self-exploration: to learn about the psychological mechanisms of our soul, how our body works, and the economic and social structures in which we operate. This requires us to be open-minded, willing to examine our assumptions, and adapt ourselves to new information. Instead of relying on one absolute truth, we learn to build a personal system of values, based on logic, empathy, and an understanding of the complex world we live in.

The key to a good life is having basic and pleasant living conditions. Before diving into philosophical or spiritual questions, it is worth asking simple yet fundamental questions: Am I happy with my physical condition? Does my financial situation allow me to live comfortably and securely? Am I happy with the relationships I have with my family and the people close to me? The key to a happy life is often found in positive answers to these questions.

Taking care of our health is quite trivial, and I don’t think I have anything to add on this topic. The service we receive through the health funds tends to provide a solution to this issue.

Relationships and financial management are more complex topics that I feel I have more to contribute to the discussion.

Life as a Managerial Challenge

I’ve found that to improve my life, it has been very helpful to understand that our existence here is essentially a managerial challenge. That is, we are given a certain situation in our lives, with certain resources, and our goal is to get from our current point in the present to the best possible future, and also for the path between the present and the future to be pleasant.

And on this topic of management, a lot of knowledge has already accumulated, and there are many tools that can be used in our private lives. So it seemed right to me to learn this field and translate it for myself, to find the ways that are beneficial for me to progress and live a better life.

Why are Management Tools More Necessary Today than Ever Before?

Human life in the technological age is very different from life in previous generations. The immense power that each and every one of us holds requires us to think carefully before choosing what to do, and especially before choosing what not to do.

In previous generations, the options available to a person were very limited. The external frameworks were very strong. It was impossible to be active on a dark night; there was no email and no mobile phone everywhere. The power of the community and family was much stronger, and the commitment to their value system was greater. Financially, everyone lived on a cash basis; if you didn’t have money in your home, you couldn’t even buy bread. Once, there was no option other than to live with what you had, whereas today credit is available and sold cheaply, and anyone can get into huge debt without any problem. In the job market, everyone has the opportunity to pursue almost any field, while in previous generations, most sons would continue in their father’s profession, a son of a carpenter became a carpenter and a son of a shoemaker became a shoemaker.

So, in our time, we encounter such a complex situation, one where we have a huge abundance of options, and out of so much abundance, we lose ourselves. In such a situation, management is most needed. Everyone has to answer the questions — what are my goals? How do I get to them? How do I not get carried away in directions that distance me from my goals?

Without precise answers to these questions, which the field of management deals with, we very quickly lose our direction and find ourselves living a lifestyle we did not want.

Management as a Prelude to On-the-Spot Coping in the Present

Ultimately, we live our lives in the present. Ostensibly, a very basic idea in life is to simply live in the present. There is a well-known Jewish proverb that says, “The past is gone, the future is not yet, and the present is like the blink of an eye, so where does worry come from?” The message is very simple: live what is and don’t get lost in thoughts.

It’s clear that if a person suffers because in every situation in life they think about what they missed, they are simply causing themselves unnecessary suffering. It’s always better to find the good in the place and time we are in right now.

In a famous paragraph (“Musar Avicha”, Chapter 2, paragraph B), Rabbi Kook explains this idea in the context of serving God — God is served in every moment and in every situation. And it is precisely in the situation a person is in that God is with them. When a person prays, they meet God through prayer, and when a person studies, they meet God through study. Rabbi Kook awakens us to develop a consciousness that is happy in every life situation and finds the service of God within it.

A person can live in constant frustration. Out of a desire to accomplish everything, a person is never satisfied. When he prays, he wants to get to learning, and when he learns, he wants to get to praying. He also wants an excellent family, and a solid financial situation, he dreams of a well-kept home and a better job. Meanwhile, his wife asked him to take out the trash.

Rabbi Kook tells us — if what is incumbent upon you right now is to take out the trash, that is your service to God, and you must do it with joy, as the service of God should be done.

And even if we don’t have the service of God in our lives, if we find ourselves in a frustrating situation, stuck in traffic, or in an endless line for the doctor, it is still better to come to terms with the situation than to live in constant frustration.

Nevertheless, in my opinion, it is important to provide an important preface before jumping to this idea of living in the present, and being present and accepting in every life situation. We must pay attention to the fact that every moment in life is connected to a previous moment. If I didn’t manage to get up on time and my whole day’s schedule was disrupted, even though it’s now advisable for me to accept the situation, the fact that I didn’t manage to get up in the morning didn’t suddenly befall me. I probably went to bed at a late hour…

If my son’s teacher calls and tells me that my son is rude and urgent treatment is needed for his academic situation — while it’s clear that I will now find myself busy with my son’s education, even in this complicated situation, his rude behavior wasn’t created in one day. I probably spent a long time engaged in other areas of life and did not properly take care of my son’s education.

Before the question of how I accept the situation I am in, I think one should first ask — how do I ensure that tomorrow I will be in a better situation? What decisions do I make today so that tomorrow will be a day that is easier to accept, and maybe even just be a flowing and fun day. Instead of being carried away by all sorts of currents that sweep us along in life, and then looking around and saying — I accept what is. Instead, you can choose where you want to go, and be happy with a reality that suits you much better.

The Big Rocks

Another context that management tools deal with is unnecessary self-imposed burdens. Modern society values endless activity, and we can fall into the trap of “doing” instead of “achieving.” Sometimes we burden ourselves with so many tasks, projects, and activities that we get sucked into an exhausting load that leaves us with a feeling of tiredness without real progress. The feeling that we are working hard but not reaching our goals is one of the most frustrating feelings in life. And this is exactly what the following story comes to answer.

One day, an elderly lecturer at a public administration school in the US was invited to give a lecture on “Effective Time Planning” to a group of 15 senior managers from the largest companies in the US.

The lecture was one of five lectures in the seminar day designed especially for them. The lecturer was given one hour to “deliver the material.”

Standing before this elite group, who were ready to write down every word he said, the elderly lecturer slowly looked over them and then said: “We are about to conduct an experiment.” From under the table that separated him from his audience, the lecturer took out a large glass jar and placed it gently in front of him. Then he took out about a dozen rocks from under the table, each the size of a tennis ball, and placed them gently, one by one, into the jar.

When the jar was completely full and no more rocks could be added, the lecturer slowly raised his gaze and asked: “Is the jar full?” Everyone answered, “Yes.”

The lecturer waited a few seconds and asked: “Really?” And then he bent down again and took out from under the table a container full of gravel.

He carefully poured the gravel over the rocks and shook the jar a little. The gravel stones sifted between the big rocks until they reached the bottom of the jar. Again, the elderly lecturer raised his gaze and asked the audience: “Is the jar full?”

Now his brilliant audience began to understand his intention. One of them replied, “Probably not.”

“Correct,” the elderly lecturer replied. He bent down again, and this time took out a pot full of sand from under the table. He carefully poured the sand into the jar. The sand filled the space between the big rocks and the gravel. Once again, the lecturer asked his students: “Is the jar full?”

This time without hesitation and in a chorus, the talented students replied, “No!”

“Correct,” the elderly lecturer replied to them. And as his students expected, he took the jug of water that was on the table and filled the jar with it to the brim.

The elderly lecturer raised his gaze to the audience and asked: “What great truth can we learn from this experiment?” Thinking about the topic of the lecture, one of the most daring and quick of his listeners replied:

“We learn that no matter how full our calendar and schedule of commitments seems, if we really try, we can always add more tasks and chores.”

“No,” the elderly lecturer replied. “Not that. The great truth that the experiment proves to us is this: if you don’t first put the big rocks in the jar, you will never be able to fit them in later.”

A deep silence fell over the hall, as everyone tried to grasp the full meaning of the lecturer’s words.

The old man looked at his listeners and said: “What are the big rocks in your life? Your health? Your family? Your friends? The fulfillment of your dreams? Doing what you really love? Fighting for a just cause? Taking a vacation? Taking time for yourselves?”

What you have to remember is that it is most important to put the big rocks in our lives first, because if we don’t, we might miss out on life. If we give priority to the small things (the gravel, the sand), life will be filled with the small things, and there will not be enough of our precious time left to achieve the things that are truly important in life. Therefore, do not forget to ask yourselves the question: What are the big rocks in my life? And when you identify them, put them first in the jar of your life.”

With a friendly wave of his hand, the lecturer greeted his listeners and slowly left the hall.

The story presented here illustrates very well that busyness is not a sign of success and seriousness. The big question is what is being expressed in the race of our lives. Are we constantly doing small things and living a life that we learn to accept, or have we built a life plan in which we express our big aspirations?

Now we need to find the tools that will allow us to guide ourselves more in the direction of the ‘big rocks,’ and not fall into endless engagement with the small stuff.