Life is Art by Jim Rohn
In my years teaching people to be successful, I have seen that basically people break their lives down into two major parts: wealth- building and the rest of their lives. Having done a lot of reflection on these two topics—wealth and life—I am coming to some new conclusions about how to perceive the two.
Until recently I thought that there was a significant difference in how we should tackle the two areas. In fact, I thought that the two topics should be addressed in almost opposite fashion.
You see, wealth-building is just math. While life—Life is art.
Think back with me to high school. Most of us were required to take math and most of us probably took art as well.
Now, think about your final exams in the two areas. Your math paper was graded on hard facts:
Ten times ten is always one-hundred.
Thirty divided by three is always ten.
Seven plus seven is always fourteen.
Fifty minus twenty-five is always twenty-five.
There is always just one answer in math. The answers are hard fact, set in stone. Math is a science. It is formulaic. You can know the outcome before it happens, every time.
But what about your final art project? Art is much more subjective. "Beauty," they say, "is in the eye of the beholder." There is no one right answer.
Think of the different styles of the famous artists:
Renoir. Monet. Picasso. Rockwell. Warhol.
Different people find different styles beautiful, and that is what makes art, art.
So how does this fit with wealth-building and life? Wealth-building is like math:
If you add $1,000 to your retirement account each month and gain 7 percent interest over 20 years, you can know now how much you will have then. It is math. If you buy a rental property for $200,000 now and it increases in value by 3 percent a year, you know exactly how much you will be able to sell it for in 10 years. The beauty of math is in the knowing. You can work the system, set it on auto-pilot and the math does the work for you, and you know the outcome.
But life? Life is art. And that is the beauty of life. You do not know how it is going to turn out. Life, like art, is always changing. Different people provide different colors. When you make a mistake, you can go back, erase it or even paint right over it. You can change the scenery. Life, like art, is ever evolving, and what looks good to one person is of no interest to another. And that is what makes life beautiful.
Another lesson I think we can draw is that in life we should do our math, of course, but life isn't made up of just wealth-building. Wealth-building should serve our ability to live our lives. Jesus, the master teacher, said that our lives are not made up of the abundance of our possessions. He didn't mean that possessions aren't good, just that wealth isn't what life is all about.
So let me ask you: Are you spending more time on your math or your art? Do your math. Everybody should do their very best at their wealth-building plan so they can take care of themselves and their families.
But life is about the art. What does your canvas look like? What kind of picture are you painting? What kind of pot are you creating? What kind of statue are you sculpting? Take your time, make bold strokes, use brilliant colors, and make of your life the most beautiful masterpiece that you can.
In other words, do your math so you can focus on your art.
Vitamins for the Mind by Jim Rohn
Sowing and Reaping
You must get good at one of two things: sowing in the spring or begging in the fall.
God has the tough end of the deal. What if instead of planting the seed you had to make the tree? That would keep you up late at night, trying to figure that one out.
Plant, don't chant.
One of my good friends always says, "Things don't just happen; things happen just."
The soil says, "Don't bring me your need, bring me your seed."
"Vitamins for the Mind" is a weekly sampling of original quotes on a specific topic taken from The Treasury of Quotes by Jim Rohn. The burgundy hardbound book with gold-foil lettering is a collection of more than 365 quotes on 60 topics gathered from Jim's personal journals, seminars and books and spanning more than 40 years. Click here to order The Treasury of Quotes.
"Here's what is exciting about sharing ideas with others: If you share a new idea with ten people, they get to hear it once and you get to hear it ten times." —Jim Rohn
Making the Most of Today by Denis Waitley
What each of us is doing this minute is the most important event in history for us. We have decided to invest our resources in THIS opportunity rather than in any other.
It is helpful to remember this when we consider the passage of time. As I write this, my mother is in her 80s and I will never see 50 again. As the years pass, I am acutely aware that the bird of time is on the wing. At my 40th high school reunion, I saw people who claimed to be my former classmates. We all had big name tags printed in capital letters so we wouldn't have to squint with our reading glasses on trying to associate the name with each well-traveled face. It was only yesterday that I was really enjoying high school. What had happened to the four decades in between? Where had they flown?
To the side of the bandstand, where the big-band sound of the late 1940s and 1950s blared our favorite top-10 hits, there was a poster with a printed verse for all of us to see. I read the words aloud: "There are two days in every week about which we should not worry, two days which should be kept free from fear and apprehension."
"One of these days is YESTERDAY, with its mistakes and cares, its faults and blunders, its aches and pains. Yesterday has passed forever beyond our control. All the money in the world cannot bring back yesterday. We cannot undo a single act we performed or erase a single word we said. Yesterday is gone."
"The other day we should not worry about is TOMORROW, with its possible adversities, its burdens, its large promise, and its poor performance. Tomorrow is also beyond our immediate control."
"This leaves only one day, TODAY. Anyone can fight the battles of just one day. It is only when you and I add the burdens of those two awful eternities—Yesterday and Tomorrow—that we break down."
"It is not the experience of Today that drives us mad, it is remorse and bitterness for something which happened yesterday and the dread of what tomorrow may bring. Let us therefore… Live this one full TODAY."
Malcolm Forbes believed the important thing is "never say die until you're dead," and he lived that example to the hilt. It is, as we realize when we suddenly attend our 40th high school reunion, a short journey.
But it is difficult to be depressed and active at the same time. So get active! Live TODAY.
"It's best to start the discipline of generosity when the amounts are small. It's easy to give ten cents out of a dollar; it's a little harder to give a hundred thousand out of a million."—Jim Rohn
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