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Robin Sharma wisdom to reflect on

Robin Sharma’s acclaimed The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari is a phenomenal book rich with practical tips in leading a purposeful life.  Another one of his beautiful creations is Life Lessons from the Monk Who Sold His Ferrari. A treasure of a book filled with 101 lessons shared through stories that will leave one uplifted indulging in the wisdom of his lessons. I share with you excerpts of 6 of the 101 that moved me and hope you can find inspiration in them as you contemplate cultivating yourself towards a responsible leader.

1. Every Day, Be Kind to a Stranger

“Everyone who enters your life has a lesson to teach and a story to tell. Every person you pass during the moments that make up your day represents an opportunity to show a little more of the compassion and courtesy that define your humanity…if you make even one person smile during the day or brighten the mood of even one stranger, your day has been a worthwhile one. Kindness, quite simply, is the rent we must pay for the space we occupy on this planet.”

 2. Start Your Day Well

“The way you begin your day determines the way you will live your day. I call the first thirty minutes after you wake up ‘The Platinum 30’ since they are truly the most valuable moments of your day and have a profound influence on the quality of every minute that follows. If you have the wisdom and self-discipline to ensure that, during this key period, you think only the purest of thoughts and take only the finest of actions, you will notice that your days will consistently unfold in the most marvelous ways.”

3. Think About Your Ideal Neighborhood

“One of the things I have done along my quest for self-knowledge is to make a list of all the people I wished lived next door to me. There are men and women from both the past and present who I would love to be able to drop in on for a quick cup of tea every once in a while and share a laugh with from time to time. The very act of listing your ‘ideal neighbors’ will connect you to many of the values and traits you respect the most in people and, in doing so, help you to discover ore about yourself as a person.”

4. Use Your Commute Time

“If you commute to the office for 30 minutes each way every day, after one year you will have spent the equivalent of six weeks of eight hour days in your car. Given this, can you really afford to spend all your time staring out the window and daydreaming while the negative news blares from the car radio? So many of the highly successful and enlightened people I know share a common habit: they listen to audiocassettes in their cars. In doing so, they transform their driving time into learning time and make their automobiles moving universities.”

5.  Write a Legacy Statement

“The time to start building your legacy is today, not ten years from today when you ‘have more time’, because we both know that time will never arrive. Reflect on what it is you want to create in your life and, more importantly, what give you wish to leave the world when you are no longer here. Greatness comes from beginning something that does not end with you.

6.  Have a Living Funeral

When on his deathbed, Plato was asked by a friend to summarize his great life’s work, The Dialogues. After much reflection, he replied in only two words: ‘Practice dying.’ The ancient thinkers had a saying that captured the point Plato made in other terms: ‘Death ought to be right there before the eyes of those who are young just as much as before the eyes of those who are very old. Every day, therefore, should be regulated as if it were the one that brings up the rear, the one that rounds out and completes our lives.’ Having a living funeral will reconnect you to the fact that time is a priceless commodity and the best time to live a richer, wiser and more fulfilling life is now.” 

Source: Life Lessons from the Monk who sold his Ferrari by Robin Sharma