An efficiency expert once concluded her lecture with the comment, “Please don’t try these techniques at home.”
“Why not?” she was asked.
“I used to watch my husband prepare breakfast and wondered why he made so many trips to the table carrying only one item at a time,” she replied. “One day I asked him, ‘Wouldn’t it be quicker and more efficient if you organized yourself to carry several things to the table at once?’”
“Did it work?” she was asked.
“Oh, yes, it worked,” the expert replied. “It used to take my husband twenty minutes to prepare breakfast. Now I do it in seven.”
Not all advice is readily received. And sometimes it is not heard the way it was intended. But neither should all advice be followed; rather, wisdom learns to separate kernels of truth from weeds.
Some advice worthy of consideration, though, comes from multi-billionaire Warren Buffett. These are some of his rules to live by.
1. Pay off your credit cards every month.
2. Put integrity first in your life.
3. Be smart about whose habits you decide to copy.
4. Don’t do something just for the money. Happiness comes from loving the work.
I have a friend who believes in trying to do what you love. He says, “Seven years ago I decided to do what I loved most − loving people. Since that time my cup has slowly been filled and is now flowing over the brim with love. Simultaneously, while seeking humility and significance, I lost pride and prominence. During those seven years I have had several mottoes. Probably the most significant one is: If you are not loving life, you are not living love.”
There’s a motto worth keeping. If you are not loving life, you are not living love.
I may never be a multi-billionaire like Warren Buffett. But if I get better at living love, I may just be about the richest person around.
--Steve Goodier
Image: flickr.com/Marga Serrano
