Archive for dreams
Failure Leads To Success
- Steve Jobs was fired from Apple before being rehired years later.
- Between 1843 and 1855, R.H. Macy opened four retail stores, they all failed. In 1858, he opened a new Macy’s store at Sixth Avenue and 14th Street in NYC, the official start of the chain we know today.
- Abraham Lincoln lost 8 elections.
- Before starting his own business, F.W. Woolworth got a job in a dry goods store when he was 21. But his employer would not let him serve any customers because he concluded that Frank “didn’t have enough common sense to serve the customers”
- Steven Spielberg has won 3 Academy Awards and ranks among the most successful filmmakers in history. Spielberg dropped out of junior high school. He was persuaded to come back and was placed in a learning-disabled class. He only lasted a month and then dropped out of school forever.
In a feature that aired on CBS News “Sunday Morning” they point out:
The copy machine was invented in 1937, but the idea was rejected by the likes of GE and IBM. It would be 10 years before Xerox’s machine would make its debut. John Grisham’s first novel was rejected by a dozen publishing houses … and Henry Ford went bankrupt 5 times.
Doing The Impossible
In 1945 Gunder Hagg of Sweden set the world record for running the fastest mile at just over 4:01. The record remaining static for almost 9 years, purpotrating a myth that it may just be impossible for a human to run a mile in less than 4 minutes.
It is evident that not everyone believed it was impossible, as there were a number of runners feverishly competing to be the first run a mile in less than 4 minutes. One of these runners, Roger Bannister set the world record in 1954 by running a mile in 3:59:04. Interestingly, almost 2 months later John Landy beat Bannister’s record. Later Bannister bested his own and Landy’s record in a race with Landy who also set a new personal record. Was this just a coincidence?
This story illustrates how important it is to question our own self-limiting beliefs, and the constraints that others may attempt to place on us. There may have been an almost famous runner who decided not to attempt a 4 minute mile because he bought into the idea it was not possible Regardless, of how ingrained a belief may be in our minds, culture, community, or society it is worth challenging these beliefs.
If all believed that a 4 minute mile was impossible, Bannister nor anyone else may have never set that record. It is interesting to note that once he broke this barrier, other runners followed suit. His achievment opened up the idea that it was possible for others as well. The current record is just under 3:45 having been set in 1999.
What do you believe is impossible? What would happen if you believed it was possible?
Making A Bucket List – Living Before Time Runs Out
Although I have not seen the Bucket List, I have an idea of the basic storyline. The plot is about two aging men, who through illness, are confronted with their mortality, and become intent on making the most of their remaining time. They make their “bucket lists,” a list of those things they want to do before they die, and set out to do them.
The theme of using the inevitably of death to make the most of your life is not a new one, although a movie can certainly help bring the notion into the mainstream. It was Socrates who said “practicing dying is the highest form of wisdom”.
This theme has been expressed in all types of literature, including articles, books, and poems. A quote by Oliver Wendell Holmes has always been poignant to me; “Many people die with their music still in them. Why is this so? Too often it is because they are always getting ready to live. Before they know it, time runs out.” Does anyone really want to die with their music still in them? You don’t need to wait to you are older, or ill, to take make your list and take action on it.
One of my earliest recollections of coming across this idea of embracing the inevitability of death to live, is in the pioneering personal development book, The Road Less Traveled by M. Scott Peck. He asks the reader to imagine they were just told they have 6 months to live. What is the first thing you would do upon leaving the doctor’s office?
In the late 90’s Steven Levine’s A Year to Live was published. This book is essentially a manual, designed to instruct you on how to treat each moment as if it were your last. A blurb from the back cover says it best; “Most of us go to extraordinary lengths to ignore, laugh-off, or deny the fact that we are going to die, but preparing for death is one of the most rewarding and rational acts of a lifetime. It is an exercise that gives us the opportunity to deal with unfinished business and enter into a new and vibrant relationship with life.” No one knows which moment will be their last. People die at every and any age, from accidents, illness, and a myriad of other ways. If it were your last, would you want to die with your music still in you?
Even television is in on this; the Travel Channel’s “1000 Places to See Before You Die” is based on the book of the same name. The show features a couple who left their lives behind for 14 weeks to tour the world.
You do not need to wait until you are older or find out you have a life threatening illness, to act on your bucket list. You don’t need one more day to at least make your list. I made a list about a year ago, and Ialthough I haven’t visited all of the places on there, I am making headway. Just making the list can be a life altering action.
You may find it helpful to break your list down into sections
5 things I want to do before I die.
5 places I want to visit before I die.
5 things I want to tell the 5 most important people in my life before I or they die.
You get the idea. You can use whatever categories and amounts work for you.5
Life is a blip. As our lives go on, the years go faster and the days seem to stay just as long. There is no perfect time or moment; stop planning, start living. Life is the special occasion so use the good china for yourself, ask him out, let everyone you love know it, forgive whomever you need to forgive, make the call you have been waiting to make, take that trip, can you afford not to do what you think you can’t afford.
What’s on your list? What are you waiting for?
College Professor Gives Lecture of A Lifetime
Randy Pausch a professor at Carnegie Mellon University diagnosed with liver cancer with a prognosis of only months to live, gave his final lecture on September 18th, 2007. “Living Your Childhood Dreams” on September 18th of this year. He allowed it to be streamed, it has since been watched over 1 million times.
The video streams from Google and It is almost 2 hours in length. If you don’t want to watch it all at one time, you can use the You Tube version further down as it is broken up into segments.