(Above: Chinese symbol for Happiness. Image source)
Via Elliot’s blog:
Domain investing may be a way of life, but life isn’t isn’t about domain investing.
A former marketing partner of mine when I worked at AIG passed away this morning after a short battle with pancreatic cancer. She was a wonderful woman, full of energy, and she left behind young children. This is a tragic part of life.
I spend a lot of time on the computer, doing research and trying to make deals. This is a way for me to make a living for me, but this isn’t life.Life is about spending time with the people you care about. Enjoy every minute you can. Unfortunately, life can be short. Life can be unpredictable, too. Take some extra time to enjoy the little thigs in your life.
My sincere condolences Elliot. The following was sent to me couple of days ago. Good read, a reminder to all:
“One day, an old professor at the French National School for Administration was asked to give a lecture to 15 directors of large American firms about useful time management. The lecture was one of five elements of their one-day course, so the professor only had one hour to pass on his knowledge.
The professor calmly scrutinized the group of elite directors one by one. They were poised and ready to write down anything the expert would tell them. The professor said: “We will conduct an experiment.” He took a large glass pitcher from under his pulpit and carefully placed it before him. Then he took about a dozen stones, each one as big as a tennis ball, and put them, one after the other, into the pitcher. When the pitcher was filled to the brim and no other stone would fit in, he looked at his students and asked: “Is the pitcher full?” They answered: “Yes, it is!” The professor waited a minute and asked them: “Are you sure?” Then he disappeared again under the pulpit and took a jar full of pebbles. Carefully, he poured the pebbles over the stones and shook the jar lightly. The pebbles distributed themselves evenly between the stones.
The professor looked at his students again and asked them: “Is the pitcher full?” This time his clever class started to understand what he was aiming at. One of them replied: “Probably not.” “Good”, the professor said and disappeared under the pulpit again. This time he took a small bucket of sand, and carefully poured it into the pitcher. The sand filled the spaces between the stones and the pebbles. Again he asked: “Is the pitcher full now?” The group replied: “No, it isn’t!”
As if they had expected it, the professor now took a jar of water from under his pulpit and filled the pitcher to the brim. Then he looked at his class and asked: “What can we learn from this experiment?” The boldest among them was thinking about the topic of the lecture and said: “We can learn that even though we might think our time-table is already full, we can always find room for another appointment if we really want to.” The professor replied: “No, that’s not the issue. What we really can learn is the following: if we don’t put the stones in the pitcher first, they will never all fit in.”
For a moment, everyone was silent. They all realized how right he was. Then he asked: “What are the stones in your lives? They are your health, your family, your friends, making your dreams come true, doing what pleases you, learning to stand up for something, relaxing, having time or something completely different. It is important to put the big stones first in your lives. If not, you won’t be able to cope with it. If you put small things first, you will spend your lives with minor details instead of the real important issues. So don’t forget to ask yourselves: what are the important stones in my life, and put them in the pitcher first.” Then the professor greeted his audience with a small wave and slowly left the room.”
We live in a period where time is money, time management is a science and we are guided by computers, electronic organizers and mobile phones to improve our productivity, to remember appointments and important phone calls, tasks and texts to produce before deadline. Don’t you ever have the feeling that life is a never ending race? What about health, family and friends? What are the commitments towards them worth? Should we step back, evaluate our life and reset priorities?
Read the complete post at http://www.conceptualist.com/fedclick.php?ref=http://www.conceptualist.com/2007/11/30/elliot-silver-life-lesson/&id=929