Get rid of the backpack
- Stop buying stuff you don’t need.
- Pay off all your credit cards.
- Get rid of all the stuff that doesn’t fit in your house/apartment storage lockers, etc.
- Get rid of all the stuff that doesn’t fit on the first floor of your house attic, garage, etc.
- Get rid of all the stuff that doesn’t fit in one room of your house.
- Get rid of all the stuff that doesn’t fit in a suitcase.
- Get rid of all the stuff that doesn’t fit in a backpack.
- Get rid of the backpack.
Start taking some control back
Many times people end up in stressful situations because they’ve maintained low personal standards.
They let other people talk down to them, treat them unfairly and disrespectfully, and take advantage of them.
They’re willing to trade their dignity and self-respect for a job, an income, a place to live, a family, etc.
But in the end, these decisions so often lead to high stress and a feeling of not being in control. And that loss of self-control ages and kills people much faster.
If you find yourself in a stressful situation, then perhaps it’s time to start taking some control back.
Raise your standards about what’s acceptable to you in terms of how you’re treated, how you’re willing to invest your precious time, and how you want your physical environment to be maintained.
Communicate these standards to others, and if they don’t cooperate, stop dealing with them.
A journey to be savoured each step of the way
Imagine life as a game in which you are juggling some five balls in the air. You name them – work, family, health, friends and spirit – and you’re keeping all of these in the air.
You will soon understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. But the other four balls – family, health, friends and spirit – are made of glass. If you drop one of these, they will be irrevocably scuffed, marked, nicked, damaged or even shattered. They will never be the same. You must understand that and strive for balance in your life.
How?
Don’t undermine your worth by comparing yourself with others. It is because we are different that each of us is special.
Don’t set your goals by what other people deem important. Only you know what is best for you.
Don’t take for granted the things closest to your heart. Cling to them as you would your life, for without them, life is meaningless.
Don’t let your life slip through your fingers by living in the past or for the future. By living your life one day at a time, you live all the days of your life.
Don’t give up when you still have something to give. Nothing is really over until the moment you stop trying.
Don’t be afraid to admit that you are less than perfect. It is this fragile thread that binds us to each together.
Don’t be afraid to encounter risks. It is by taking chances that we learn how to be pave.
Don’t shut love out of your life by saying it’s impossible to find time. The quickest way to receive love is to give; the fastest way to lose love is to hold it too tightly; and the best way to keep love is to give it wings!
Don’t run through life so fast that you forget not only where you’ve been, but also where you are going.
Don’t forget, a person’s greatest emotional need is to feel appreciated.
Don’t be afraid to learn. Knowledge is weightless, a treasure you can always carry easily.
Don’t use time or words carelessly. Neither can be retrieved. Life is not a race, but a journey to be savoured each step of the way.
—
Brian G. Dyson was the CEO of The Coca-Cola Company from 1986 to 1991. The text above was part of his speech at the Georgia Tech 172nd Commencement Address in September 6, 1996.
Video: The opposite may also be true
Susan Cain: The Introvert Manifesto
1. There’s a word for “people who are in their heads too much”: thinkers.
2. Our culture rightly admires risk-takers, but we need our “heed-takers” more than ever.
3. Solitude is a catalyst for innovation.
4. Texting is popular because in an overly extroverted society, everyone craves asynchronyous, non-face-to-face communication.
5. We teach kids in group classrooms not because this is the best way to learn but because it’s cost-efficient, and what else would we do with the children while all the grown-ups are at work? If your child prefers to work autonomously and socialize one-on-one, there’s nothing wrong with her; she just happens not to fit the model.
6. The next generation of quiet kids can and should be raised to know their own strength.
7. Sometimes it helps to be a pretend-extrovert. There’s always time to be quiet later.
8. But in the long run, staying true to your temperament is the key to finding work you love and work that matters.
9. Everyone shines, given the right lighting. For some, it’s a Broadway spotlight, for others, a lamplit desk.
10. Rule of thumb for networking events: one genuine new relationship is worth a fistful of business cards.
11. It’s OK to cross the street to avoid making small talk.
12. “Quiet leadership” is not an oxymoron.
13. The universal longing for heaven is not about immortality so much as the wish for a world in which everyone is always kind.
14. If the task of the first half of life is to put yourself out there, the task of the second half is to make sense of where you’ve been.
15. Love is essential, gregariousness is optional.
16. “In a gentle way, you can shake the world.” (Gandhi)