Eat, Drink, and Be Merry

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DAILY PROMPT

Eat, Drink, and Be Merry…

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…for tomorrow we die. The world is ending tomorrow! Tell us about your last dinner — the food, your dining companions, the setting, the conversation.

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This is the month of commencement addresses. Many good-meaning people are offering our graduates and future entrepreneurs the worlds of advice needed to be successful in the world.

One can often hear the words Live each day as if it will be your last.

If one truly lived a life this way, I think that this would be a morbid ending to a life which actually was not allowed to have a beginning.

After living a somewhat successful life of almost sixty years and after mentoring and teaching for thirty-plus years, and having future plans for about sixty more successful years,  I think that I have borrowed (stolen) far better words of advice for my life and for others.

Eat, Drink, and Be Merry is not bad advice…. It is just advice that is incomplete if one wants to live a life filled with the possibilities of happiness. Here are TWENTY more complete steps to finding that life that is rewarding. (Reminder: These are words of wisdom that have been stolen or at best revised for me. A special thank you to all that assisted me along the way to their discovery!)

TWENTY PREMISES WHICH WILL BUILD SUCCESS

1. Make your bed each morning. You have then already accomplished something.

2. Know your purpose in life, not just the process for which you are being paid.

3. Live each day to its fullest. Look yourself in the mirror each night and be happy with who you see.

4. Do one thing at a time. That does not mean no juggling. That means that you know what each step of each juggle entails and that you give it your upmost attention. Don’t leave tasks unfinished.

5. Continue to grow! Set out to learn something new every week. Know what it is you have learned.

6. Journal about your goals. Write them down. Set a timeline for fulfilling them. Know that this timeline is not in stone. It is a timeline so that you have proof that you are growing and moving forward with your life.

7. Enjoy living. Have a hobby- a passion- in life for pleasure. In fact, if possible, have five or six of them!

8. Say “Thank You” as often as you are supposed to! Mean it!

9. Be kind. Be colorblind. Be forgiving. Be welcoming. These are traits of a good human being.

10. Limit your time with the television- It can suck the life right out of you- even if it is a sporting event. Watching a sporting event is television!

11. Listen to people when they talk. Don’t just be polite and watch their lips move. Actually Listen… Listen… Listen.

12. Help others. Not just those people who are a ladder to your personal success. Help people who can likely in life never return the favor.

13. It is OK not to know something. When you don’t know something- find out! Ask! Don’t just do it wrong to get it done.

14. When you are wrong…. say “I Was Wrong.” People- All People- make mistakes.

15. Know when you are a leader and when you are a lamb. You will be both in life- That is OK. When you are a leader, know who is following you and assist them. (Important note: A lamb will get barbequed without a good leader.)

16. Do more than is required to do a merely adequate job. You want that for yourself in a task done for you. Do that for others.

17. Aim. Fire. Don’t overthink things until you care frozen into inaction. A path can be altered by alert travelers.

18. Love you family and friends. Tell them so often. Tell them that you love them in a way that they understand. Silent acknowledgement and a smile is not enough.

19. Work in relationship and Know your God.

20. Forgive yourself. No one is perfect. Not even you.

I actually suggest (kindly enforce) all my mentoring clients (there’s got to be a better word) to journal about one of these each week. I do this as well.

In response to The Daily Post’s writing prompt: “Eat, Drink, and Be Merry….”