LIFE: Making the best of the Monotony Game
Often, people will live their lives with someone else's baggage, meaning they try to fit themselves into another's idea of success. However, their trouser or skirt may not fit you in many ways.
Money or power are deplorable masters to serve. Money is a by-product of success and merely a tool. You withdraw funds from a source to use and then return it when your goal is accomplished. To quote the writer Winston Groom, via his character Forrest Gump: "... a person needs only so much money for living comfortably and the rest is for showing off." If one is not wary of desire, money will seize control of you instead of you controlling it. Money is NOT a good method to measure success.
Power is elusive and often illusory. Many kings through the ages have had to answer to their people for their self-centeredness. King Louis XVI is an excellent example. The French people gave him a Guillotine haircut in 1793.
If you desire to own a business, you will not be in complete command of your destiny as you think. You will be responsible for two groups of people; customers/ clients and your employees. Failure to serve either group will put you out of business fast.
Most military commanders earn a position of authority because they are responsible for achieving a goal. Some perform well in some areas, and others do well in others, but rarely will someone do well in all areas. Commanders provide the means for their subordinates to accomplish the mission. Provisions are more than food and weapons, but also health and spiritual support for morale. A good commander takes care of the soldiers, who will, in return, take care of their commander. Commanders must have good people skills.
If you direct your focus on the idea of serving others, you will not go wrong. In serving others, the most important skill a person can acquire is social skills. Understanding people and interacting with them as a team is always a worthy goal.
Frankly, the purpose of human life is to serve others with our gifts. We all have gifts, also known as talents. It may take an aptitude test to discover yours.
The most freedom you will ever have is when you are a student. As a student, you are allowed wide latitude to determine your needs and goals while seeking an education. How much you assimilate is up to you. Even the worst teacher in the world cannot stop you from learning if you have desire and curiosity.
For the student, life is like the top of a grassy knoll with rocks on one side, and boulders on another. Still, strips of smooth grass and the occasional rock occupies parts of the rest. And, atop the smooth summit you kick about the ball of education, learning from your teacher/instructor/coach to control your path to a destiny.
Then comes your graduation, the day your ball of destiny is kicked off the grassy summit toward the goal you have chosen, whether by design ... or not.
There is no reason to be stupid. (stupid: given to reasoning uninformed decisions or acts) Intelligence is the confidence in your ability AND the determination to learn, AND having a foundation to learn. Further, SMART (informed reasoning) should never be confuse with INTELLECTIVELY RECEPTIVE. For example: (x+a)n = Æ© (nk=0) Xk an an-k ). Uh-huh, point made .
Foundation to learn, for example: to learn algebra, one must have a good knowledge of math. Please note that it takes good, not just fair knowledge. Still, you must learn to process well a certain method of thought to ascend to the next level. A slow person is one who does not have a strong foundation in what they are learning. This can lead to a weakened desire to learn. Strengthen the foundation and desire often grows stronger. Any builder will tell you: all strong houses have good foundations.
You have or will undoubtedly encounter roadblocks, ditches and disappointments on the road to achieving your education. Learn how to identify the cause and then navigate around them. This will continue to happen long after your formal education ends. Those who learn from their difficulties, will become stronger and resourceful leading to success. Also remember the old adage, "Those who fail to learn from their mistakes are condemned to repeat them."
What good is an education? Your contribution to society dictates your income. A person is paid, NOT for perceived importance, but for one, or a combination, of the following: risk, responsibility, knowledge, education and experience.
Taking risks without experience and knowledge is a bad idea. Having experience requires time. Rushing experience can cost you your life. Responsibility is only given based on knowledge and experience. Knowledge is learning something first hand, like on-the-job training. Again, this takes time.
That having been said, your options are reduced to gaining an education.
A self-evident truth is: anything you have can be physically taken away from you except knowledge. Education is something that is for life and it is far more than a piece of paper.
Addendum
Young people (especially men) need to understand that when they have responsibility- like a family- they can feed their responsibility (both spiritually & physically) or their ego, but seldom both..
Relationships.
Maintaining a relationship is like maintaining a checking account. You both make deposits and withdrawals, but sometimes, someone in the relationship overdraws the account too often and eventually an over-drawn account gets closed.
When starting a relationship, it is best to think of it as an investment that will pay rich dividends later that money can never buy ....
