5 Quintessential Life Lessons to Learn
The most basic yet the most mysterious aspect of the grandeur of existence is what we call life. It is more of a process than an occurrence and hence requires continuous learning over knowing. In this process, we would still need some quality learnings which would be true throughout despite the dynamic nature of life. These could be fundamental to building an enjoyable time that we spent alive. Read on to find some of those learnings which I feel are of utmost importance in this regard.
- You Have an Expiry Date
Everything that we know of is time-bound and that which is not is that which we cannot rationalize. This great knowledge that we know and understand, we fail to realize. The concept of a deadline makes us work more effectively. A sport played without any boundaries is no fun and neither is life. This is the fundamental lesson to always keep in mind.
I recently stumbled upon a fun Ted Talk in which the speaker showed an uncanny resemblance to the time we have in our life with a simple life calendar with one box for each week for a 90-year life. I would urge you to draw up the matrix and see how many boxes you have crossed already and how many are you left with.
This is not to create a sense of urgency or impatience or regret but instead a sense of focus, contentment, and enjoyment with whatever you do. We do not have much time to focus on things we care about the least or be worried about things that are out of our control. All that we have is time. Always strive to make it a worthwhile stay.
2. Vision is Key
Time and presence deem action. But no one can shoot in the dark and expect a favorable result all the time. To have this enjoyable journey we need to know what makes it enjoyable. There lies the goal or vision that you seek to achieve. Just like how a sport requires boundaries it also needs a scoring system to make people play it. The goals to be reasonable to achieve shall be guided by your interests and liking.
Taking a cue from the previous lesson, a simple question would help you get started, what would you do if you have all the time in the world?! Apart from this, you can also use the why strategy to find out your vision. A constant probe into why you do what you do would again lead you to your goal. This is more of a mental exercise than anything else.
One of the best ways to have an effective vision is to keep in mind the true benefits or enjoyment which others will also reap when you achieve your goal.
3. Matching Intent and Action
Climbing a mountain needs a first step. A vision without a proper intent to act and an action combined is a perfect recipe for failure. Intent to act and action are quite different. Intent could be a plan of action or an idea of how to act while the action is the doing part. While you have figured out your larger intent in the form of a vision you need to break it down to smaller pieces that you can achieve in a shorter period.
An age-old technique used in organizations called SMART goals can help you to create your intent.
S — Specific
M — Measurable
A — Attainable
R — Relevant
T — Time-bound
Make sure to set smaller goals that would add up to your ultimate vision.
On the action part, the hard truth is that you just need to keep doing simple everyday tasks diligently and get the rhythm going. Everything else falls in its place when these two happens.
4. You cannot do it all alone
This is a no brainer if you think clearly. This is one of the most uplifting lessons that we need to hold on to. Right from the beginning of our own life, we need help from others in different ways. It is not humanly possible to do everything on your own even if it is for achieving your own goal. For even our day to day activity, we get support from one or another human.
The openness of people will do good for all of us. Being vulnerable is a virtue that at times will get us the support without even asking, be sure to grab on to those when it comes and helps us ask for help at the required time.
This goes beyond just achieving the goals of life. Not everything in life is a linear progression. To meet the highs and lows we require each other in life. So just go and ask what you need, and you shall be given that.
5. Give back what you got
Without this, the journey doesn’t get complete. Though it is mentioned as the last lesson it doesn’t mean it needs to be done after doing all the previous ones. If at all there is one thing that you should do throughout, it is this. There can be no happiness that equals giving. Even becoming the king or queen of the world or the universe won’t match the bliss of giving.
Give whatever you can and give whatever it takes!
To summarize I would say,
A. Know the rules/truth
B. Use your intelligence
C. Plan and more importantly do the action
D. Ask for help and take it
E. Give back
