What follows are just some things that I’ve had rolling around in my head since I heard the news that I was going to be a father. I have an incredible responsibility to “jump start” my son’s brain and over-all through process. That being said, I’ve been trying to write out life lessons that I’ve personally learned either by my experience of through the experience of others that I wish I had learned early and hope I can communicate to Logan.
Always be on the lookout for an opportunity to try new things and expand your horizons.
One of the greatest pieces of advice I’ve ever heard comes from Patrick Lencioni. One of his steps for a successful and happy career is:
“Identify what you don’t like doing, and stop doing it.”
I think this carries over into personal lives as well. Once you’ve identified what you don’t like, as much as possible, cut it out of your life. You can only learn what things you don’t like by trying them. For each and every item you try and don’t like, you get closer to finding what you do like. At the very least, you can become a very interesting, complex person this way.
Personally, this process of trying new things (foods, situations, hobbies, people, etc) also introduced me to aspects of life that I now find absolutely fascinating but would not have given any thought to otherwise.
Life lived, not age, translates into wisdom.
This is a lesson I wish I had learned earlier in life. The notion that age automatically qualifies as wisdom is ridiculous. Unfortunately for many years of my young adult life I confused respect for my elders with regarding everything they said as “smart”. But the truth is that so far in my life I’ve met people my age and younger that have blow me away with their incite, and I’ve meet people older than me that are dumber than a bag of bricks.
The sports caster Charlie Jones once wrote:
“You are the same today as you’ll be in five years except for two things, the books you read and the people you meet.”
There is a huge degree of truth to this statement.
People who become stagnant in life and experiences will keep growing older, but they won’t grow any smarter, they will be the exact same person they were five years ago. On the other hand people who are constantly reaching for more in their persona life may be relatively young, but changing and growing after each experience.
Happy memories are important.
Dana and I have made commitments to try and go away for a vacation at least once a year. This idea mainly came from a lesson I learned in 2007 while I was going through radiation treatment. I learned that happy memories are important, if not crucial, to have during the hard times.
When this massive machine was revolving around me shooting toxic levels of radiation through my head, neck, chest and abdomen everyday for 7 weeks I could have been thinking about my “honey do” list of chores that I had to do that Saturday, but I wasn’t. I could have been thinking about my job and what reports were due and what meetings I had the following week, but I wasn’t. I could have been wishing for a bigger house, better car, or any number of “things” that I wanted to own, but I wasn’t. What I was thinking about, were the same memories over and over again. What was going through my head was the good times I had on my latest Disney World vacation with my wife, Dee, Paul, and Tim. Those memories were comforting and really helped me through that hard time of my life.
Ask Questions. Don’t Assume Things.
Curiosity may have killed that cat, but it’s made many men and women successful, wealthy, healthy wise and respected. It sounds so cliche to even type it out, but knowledge and wisdom are power. The more you understand things the more possibilities are opened up for you. The best way I know of get knowledge is to ask for it. Even is the Bible this is echoed. James 1:5 says:
“But if any man among you is without wisdom, let him make his request to God, who gives freely to all without an unkind word, and it will be given to him.”
This life lesson wouldn’t be complete without a dash of common sense. Without temperance, and knowing to just whom you are asking your questions, you could be given a healthy does of mis-information. I think the rule of thumb should be simple: ask your questions of the people held in high regard of the topic you’re inquiring about. Just some examples, you wouldn’t ask a broke person for advice with money, ask a fat person how to lose weight or a three time divorcee how to have happy marriage.
October 8, 2008
Family