Hi
I attended a Smithsonian Institution Resident's Associate Program speech last night. Ted Leonsis recently wrote a book called "The Business of Happiness" which (from what I can tell from the speech) is primarily autobiographical and partly imparting his wisdom on what it means to be happy, his "6 tenets for a life well lived". After the speech he autographed his book (I bought one and luckily was near the front of the line for the autographs). This man spoke for two hours (including the Q&A session) without a single note. Just stood on the stage and talked...
At any rate, the crux of the book is that when he was 27 he was on a plane that was in full emergency and they all thought they were going to die. He "made a bargain with God" that if he survived he would leave more than he took, and lead a life well lived. (Note: he had already sold his first company for 60 million dollars, at the age of 26 - this must have been nearly 30 yrs ago, you know, when "60 million dollars was a lot of money" har har).
The plane landed safely and shortly thereafter he made his life's list. 101 things he will do before he dies. He then set about "leading his life on the offense" and what a story. Yes, this 27 yr old had on his life list "own a sports team and win a championship". Well, he owns the Caps, there's one. He actually has done all but 19 of his life list items - a few of them can only happen after he dies (leave more than he took...)
At any rate, this is something that has been around the edges of my mind for a while. Some time in the next few years (TBD) I am taking a gap year and I have been thinking about my goals for that. I definitely do not want to just take a year off with nothing to show for it, time is too valuable to waste.
I haven't formally written anything down, but there are things that I've already done that I "always wanted to do" so I suppose they would be on the list. Seeing lavender in Provence in full season, seeing the Tour de France live, etc... Ted's list is very expansive and some of it is HUGE thinking (I peeked at the back of his book where his list resides). Some of his were less specific, almost easy (visit Paris, visit London, Rome etc. Hell, I probably myself had no less than 20 things checked off in common from his list already... the easy stuff.) Others were simply astounding given that a young man wrote them - and that he's achieved many of them.
At any rate, a lot of blather here. What are some of your life list goals? Easy, hard, you name it. Doesn't have to be travel related. I guess I need to set pen to paper and start organizing...
I attended a Smithsonian Institution Resident's Associate Program speech last night. Ted Leonsis recently wrote a book called "The Business of Happiness" which (from what I can tell from the speech) is primarily autobiographical and partly imparting his wisdom on what it means to be happy, his "6 tenets for a life well lived". After the speech he autographed his book (I bought one and luckily was near the front of the line for the autographs). This man spoke for two hours (including the Q&A session) without a single note. Just stood on the stage and talked...
At any rate, the crux of the book is that when he was 27 he was on a plane that was in full emergency and they all thought they were going to die. He "made a bargain with God" that if he survived he would leave more than he took, and lead a life well lived. (Note: he had already sold his first company for 60 million dollars, at the age of 26 - this must have been nearly 30 yrs ago, you know, when "60 million dollars was a lot of money" har har).
The plane landed safely and shortly thereafter he made his life's list. 101 things he will do before he dies. He then set about "leading his life on the offense" and what a story. Yes, this 27 yr old had on his life list "own a sports team and win a championship". Well, he owns the Caps, there's one. He actually has done all but 19 of his life list items - a few of them can only happen after he dies (leave more than he took...)
At any rate, this is something that has been around the edges of my mind for a while. Some time in the next few years (TBD) I am taking a gap year and I have been thinking about my goals for that. I definitely do not want to just take a year off with nothing to show for it, time is too valuable to waste.
I haven't formally written anything down, but there are things that I've already done that I "always wanted to do" so I suppose they would be on the list. Seeing lavender in Provence in full season, seeing the Tour de France live, etc... Ted's list is very expansive and some of it is HUGE thinking (I peeked at the back of his book where his list resides). Some of his were less specific, almost easy (visit Paris, visit London, Rome etc. Hell, I probably myself had no less than 20 things checked off in common from his list already... the easy stuff.) Others were simply astounding given that a young man wrote them - and that he's achieved many of them.
At any rate, a lot of blather here. What are some of your life list goals? Easy, hard, you name it. Doesn't have to be travel related. I guess I need to set pen to paper and start organizing...
