Life's Greatest Lessons:
15 Things That Matters
TV screens changed from black & white to colour to digital to plasma to 3D in less than 100 years, mobile network changed from 2G to 3G to 3.5G to 4G in less than 15 years…… Everything in life seems to be changing at an ever increasing rate and with an ever increasing complexity. Caught up in this web of constant and complex changes, sometimes we forget that a good life requires just a few fundamental lessons. According to Hal Urban, there are only 20 lessons we need to know in order to live a fulfilling and happy life.
1. Success is more than making money
Money is not the root of all evil; the love of money is. Success is ‘Let each become all that he was created capable of being’.
2. Life is hard…and not always fair
M. Scott Peck says, life is difficult. The first one of the Four Noble Truths written by Buddha is ‘Life is suffering’. Hence, pain is inevitable, but misery is optional. Those things that hurt, instruct (Benjamin Franklin).
3. Life is also fun…and incredibly funny
One of the best diversions to distract us from the ordeals of life is humour. While working hard, Thomas Edison also had several notebooks filled with jokes to provide comic relief for himself and his staff. Laugh and be well (Matthew Green).
4. We live by choice, not by chance
Life is a series of choices. We are free to choose our character, our values, how to treat other people, how to handle adversity, and how much we’ll learn.
5. Attitude is a choice—the most important one you’ll ever make
We usually get what we expect because the thoughts we choose set the wheels in motion and then move us in a particular direction—law of attraction. Think with an open mind, and don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mold (Romans 12:2).
6. Habits are the key to all success
The power of habit is strong, as Stephen R. Covey writes in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, hence, is not an act, but a habit (Aristotle).
7. Being thankful is a habit—the best one you’ll ever have
We seldom think of what we have but always think of what we lack. However, it is not how much we have but how much we enjoy (Charles Spurgeon). Have you said ‘thank you’ today?
8. Good people build their lives on a foundation of respect
Treat other people exactly as you would like to be treated by them (Matthew 7:12). Our rewards in life will always be in exact proportion to the amount of consideration we show toward others (Earl Nightingale).
9. Honesty is still the best policy
This above all, to thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man (Shakespeare). Honesty is a choice. Be authentic. Be real.
10. Kind words cost little but accomplish much
Sometimes all that is needed to get over an obstacle is a positive push. There is a lot more good in people than there is bad. Building people up is more effective than tearing them down. We increase whatever we praise. The whole creation responds to praise and is glad (Charles Fillmore).
11. Real motivation comes from within
Your chances of success in any undertaking can always be measured by your belief in yourself (Robert Collier).
12. Goals are dreams with deadlines
People with goals succeed because they know where they’re going (Earl Nightingale).
13. There’s no substitute for hard work
The best prize life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing (Theodore Roosevelt).
14. You have to give up something to get something
Discipline means choices. Every time you say yes to a goal or objective, you say no to many more (Sybil Stanton).
15. Successful people don’t find time—they make time
