TIME FOR THOUGHTFUL REFLECTION

"Most men pursue pleasure with such breathless haste that they hurry past it."

Søren Kierkegaard, 19th century Danish philosopher/poet.

Very true and not just as it pertains to pleasure.

We hurry past way too much we should spend more time contemplating. 

Grief, love, happiness, relationships, challenges, successes, failures; all part of the one life we've all been blessed to live.

All worthy of thoughtful consideration before moving onto whatever is next.

Don't hurry past your life.

THE REASON YOU SHOULD, THE REASON YOU SHOULDN'T

"We work to become, not to acquire."

Elbert Hubbard, 19th century American writer/publisher.

Actually, we should but not all of us all the time do.

And pity those who do not understand the difference.

THINKING OF SOMETHING ELSE AS YOU READ THIS?

"Concentrate all your thoughts upon the work at hand. The sun's rays do not burn until brought to a focus."

Alexander Graham Bell, late 19th/early 20th century inventor.

Pretty proud of that multi-tasking you do are you?

Maybe too proud??

WHAT IS, MORE THAN WHAT MIGHT BE

"Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for."

Epicurus, 300 BC Greek philosopher

I can't imagine better advice.

Work hard for what you hope will be, accepting what comes, all the while enjoying what is.

YES, BUT . . .

"It is the working man who is the happy man. It is the idle man who is the miserable man."

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman/scientist/philosopher.

Sure, generally speaking, all things being equal, however . . .

Not if the work you are doing is not at least tolerable if not enjoyable.

Not if your work leaves little to no time for a personal life.

Too much, too little of anything leads to an unbalanced, unhappy life.

NOT IMPOSSIBLE TO GET RIGHT, JUST DIFFICULT

"There's no such thing as work-life balance. There are work-life choices, and you make them, and they have consequences."

Jack Welch, retired business executive/chemical engineer.

Hopefully mostly good choices but often not.

Never stop trying to get this right.

It's your life, the only one you have, and not only do your choices affect you they affect those you care about as well.

IT'S YOUR TIME; HOW YOU SPEND IT IS LARGELY UP TO YOU

"To do the same thing over and over again is not only boredom: it is to be controlled by rather than to control what you do."

Heraclitus (c. 535 BCE-c. 475 BCE) Greek philosopher.

We all must endure a certain amount of boredom and how much that will be is largely up to us.

If what you're doing bores you devise a plan that will lead to something else.

Easier said than done?

No more than also being worth the effort.

YOUR BUSINESS, YOUR LIFE?

"I do not believe a man can ever leave his business. He ought to think of it by day and dream of it by night."

Henry Ford (1863-1947) American industrialist

You would expect Henry to say that, being the workaholic he was.

And at times you do need to eat, drink, sleep your business, that or lose it.

But not always forever.

Deciding when, how much, for how long, that's the hard part.

GETTING IT RIGHT

"So enjoy present pleasures as to not mar those to come."

Seneca (4 BC-65) Roman philosopher/playwright

But do so with balance.

Avoid not enjoying today because you're worried about tomorrow, or living only for today.

Too much of the first and you never enjoy what you worked so hard for yesterday, while the second means you're not working hard enough today to have things to enjoy tomorrow.

FEAR THE ACCIDENTAL CAREER

"The great art of life is sensation, to feel that we exist, even in pain."

Lord Byron (1788-1824) British poet

Obviously about life in general but think about this relative to your career.

You don't want to only "exist" in whatever job you do, which you will if you don't consciously, with much thought, determine your life's work.

UNCONSCIOUSLY BUSY?

"If work and leisure are soon to be subordinated to this one utopian principle -- absolute busyness -- then utopia and melancholy will come to coincide: an age without conflict will dawn, perpetually busy -- and without consciousness."

Günter Grass (1927-?) German author

Absolute busyness . . . can you relate?

Think about what you are busy doing.

If too much has become automated, things you do without questioning why you do them, you are unconsciously busy.

YOUR LIFE'S CLOCK IS TICKING

"To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all."

Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) Irish poet/dramatist

We all need to just "exist" some to much of the time; we can't always be "living" in the way implied by Mr. Wilde.

But for most "living" too much is not the problem.

I generally know when I'm doing one versus the other and I do my best to swing the pendulum toward purposely living.

What about you?

THE LIMITS OF MULTI-TASKING

"Perpetual devotion to what a man calls his business, is only to be sustained by perpetual neglect of many other things."

Robert Louis Stevenson

19th century Scottish essayist/poet/novelist

Really, the perpetual devotion to most anything comes at the expense of adequate time for all other things.

You may think you've successfully got all the balls in the air at once but you don't.

In any event not all for long.

YOU CAN'T SLOW DOWN WITHOUT FIRST HAVING SPEEDED UP

"I can think of nothing less pleasurable than a life devoted to pleasure."

John D Rockefeller

19th and 20th century American industrialist/philanthropist

You can't really appreciate the pleasure of doing nothing if you've only done nothing.

IF ALL YOU DO IS NOTHING . . .

"Indolence is a delightful but distressing state; we must be doing something to be happy."

Mahatma Gandhi

Early 20th century leader of Indian nationalism

Let's suppose that isn't true and you can always be at rest.

How will you know you are unless you occasionally aren't?

THE COST OF MONEY

"Money often costs too much."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

19th century American poet/essayist/lecturer

We can all benefit from remembering this however I specifically want to call this to the attention of new college graduates.

Work hard for financial success but not to the point that doing so will cost you in other, often more meaningful ways.

(Not) The Retiring Type?

"I go on working for the same reason that a hen goes on laying eggs."

Henry Louis Mencken

20th century American journalist

One day you could stop working.

Should you?

Planning to Relax

"Spare moments are the gold dust of time."

Unknown

Seems counter-intuitive to think about planning leisure time, but how much of it ends up wasted if you don't?

Note to self:  Must plan to relax!