Now that I am another year older (and wiser of course), I have some observations about living a RICH life. If you have been a reader of this blog, you probably know that when I write about rich I mean money driven and when I write about RICH I mean purpose-driven.
Last Friday, June 6th was my birthday and now that I am as old as Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama, I am thinking I should have run for president! Actually, I am probably too dumb to offer much and too smart to want to put my family through what a politicial family experiences. However, if Barack can talk about things for which he may not fully be knowledgeable, I am going to take that risk When I reach John McCain’s age, I may have the life knowledge but perhaps I won’t have the memory! So here goes my stroke of insight pondered on my birthday (but NOT in my birthday clothes):
1. Listen. Thursday my wife and I flew to Daytona Beach, FL for the funneral of a 48 year YOUNG man. He was exuberant, intelligent, witty, a brillant musician, a talented dentist and a doting father of two young girls – an infant and a 2 1/2 year old. Somehow in the midst of everything he had going for him, he felt he had nothing going for him. He took his life one week ago today. As I heard the words spoken about him at his memorial service, saw over 1000 people in attendance, and spoke with his many friends at the reception, I realized that there were probably some people, who IF they had reached out in love and with a listening and helpful ear, his death MAY not of occurred. Listening to my best friend talk about it recently, I am convinced that listening is the key to many things, including healing. Listen more.
2. Go out on a limb. Friday, I gave a speech to the Vermont Independent Insurance Agents. During the speech, I had an idea of something that would fit perfectly into my Living Rich speech. It was a concept I hadn’t intergrated into the speech before. It was a bit of a risk. I played the ”do it or not” tape in my brain a few times as I was speaking. I choose “do it” and am glad I did. It worked and added value to a point I was trying to make. Don’t let a potential fall keep you from going somewhere you haven’t been.
3. Travel the road less traveled. Traveling to the Basin Habor Club where I gave my speech, the driver took the back roads. We could have traveled via interstate and made our trip a bit quicker. Had we done that, we would have missed out on a tour through rural Vermont. We would have also missed hearing some history about this great state. Today on a bike ride in the rural area surrounding this beautiful place, I saw some incredible scenes and even met a few locals. The road less traveled was paved for me. How about you?
4. Live like you’re dying. Yesterday I met a retired physican. He is 57 years old and has esophageal cancer (which isn’t a cancer you want to have if you have to have cancer). I met Bob and his wife in the healthclub here at the Basin Harbor Club. He exercises everyday and lives an active life. He bikes, kayaks, explores lakes, rivers and oceans by boat. Over a five year period, he and his wife canoed over 8000 miles across North America. He’s recently taken up golf. He told me that he wasn’t afraid of death but he wasn’t going to let statistics ruin the life he had left to live. Today is the best someday to start living, particularly IF you feel like you aren’t living now.
5. Breathe. That’s one reason I am here. To soak in the beautiful mountains and lakes of Vermont. I know there are three things that fuel me: 1) Time with my wife without our kids 2) Tim Time – taking time alone to renew, revitalize, and recreate and 3) Breathing – slowing down and smelling the roses. There’s a sign here at the resort that says “Slow Down and relax”. Nuff said. I’m off for a walk around the lake and back to my cabin on Lake Champlain.
Note: This post title was inspired by a coment posted by a reader on my post about the Last Lecture. He recommended I find out about Jill Bolte Taylor and her book My Stroke of Insight. Sounds like a good read.
Tim Richardson is an inspirational speaker who speaks about how giving increases employee morale, lowers employee turnover, increases customer loyalty and creates higher profits for Fortune 500 companies, associations, and national conventions. He is the founder of the The Worlds Biggest Blog Party an event which will connect bloggers from all over the world to raise money for charity. He is also founder and president of the Bill Walter Melanoma Research Fund and co-founder of the Jeffrey Roth Cycling Foundation. Click here for more information on professional speaker Tim Richardson.
I awoke at about 2am last night with a thought on my brain. I think it was because I read your blog before I went to bed. My 20th HS reunion is coming up in Oct. We got a form to fill out and one of the questions was “What do you want people to know?”. My thought last night was: Time does not equal money. There will come a time will you will trade any amount of money for more time with a friend, spouse, parent, or child. I wish we could make HS seniors understand that they should charish the time they have with their friends and classmates and not worry about petty things like what they wear or drive. We wasted so much time and energy in HS trying to be in the “cool crowd” or “in group”. Still now, I am trying to lose weight for many reasons but one goal I have set is to try to be smaller when I go to my HS reunion. Why do we feel like we have to impress people that we haven’t seen for 20 years! From today, I will concentrate on losing weight for my health and quality of life with my family and NOT for impressing others.
I took care of an elderly man once who said, “People at the end of their life rarely say, ‘I wish I had spent more time at the office!’”. This man was close to the end of his life, and he regretted working too much, and not doing things that were of more lasting importance. Time is indeed precious, and how are we spending it? Keep telling us about people who are living RICH!