May you live life every day of your life

Jonathan Swift

Earlier this month a friend of mine loaned me a magazine called Motivated. This particular edition has a picture of Starbucks President and CEO Howard Schultz, on the cover. It’s an interesting magazine and I’ve enjoyed reading the articles that piqued my interest. One of those articles is by a favourite author of mine – Robin Sharma. At the end of his piece of writing, Sharma has a list called “64 ways to make 2010 your best year yet.” The list is quite intriguing and includes a variety of items, ranging from predictable things like – drink more water (# 44); to more thought-provoking items like – be of deep value to this world (# 58).

Item # 58 really got me thinking. How can I be of deep value to this world? How can anyone of us be of deep value to this world? Well, I’d like to present to you a list of three items that will help fulfill the above directive.

The first one I’m going to take from Sharma’s aforementioned list. It’s # 36 – under promise and then over deliver. Just imagine the positive impact at your workplace, or within your family, if more people made a conscious decision to give more than what’s expected. Just the other day at my workplace I saw a great example of that. As a matter of fact, I was the recipient of this person’s largesse. As it happened, one of my co-workers was heading up the street to grab a coffee on her mid-morning break. Before she left, she politely asked if I wanted anything. I quickly placed an order for a tea (I don’t drink coffee). Upon her return a few minutes later, she placed the tea on my desk, along with an unexpected treat – a fresh cinnamon bun! That’s what I call under promising and then over delivering!

The second item on my list is maybe a corollary of number one – manufacture kindness daily. It’s almost cliché to say that all of us can find countless opportunities throughout our day to engender goodwill among those we encounter. What an adrenalin rush - what a life enhancer it is to go out of our way to spread selfless acts of charity along our life’s path!

My third suggestion of how to be of deep value to this world is – drink deeply from great books. What more can I say? The more we immerse ourselves in great literature, the more our own sense of self- worth is elevated. Of course, as a natural extension of that, we are then better able to make a contribution to the well being of another person. Actually, on Sharma’s list, he suggests reading a number of books; one of them is the great book by Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist. (That’s # 40 on his list).

Speaking of great literature, I would be remiss if I didn’t include the number one book (in my estimation) in that category – the Bible. On the topic of reading the Bible, several years ago I came across an interesting observation that someone had made about the importance of spending some time with this great book. He or she said that if one person reads the Bible regularly, then 100 people read it. Now that’s certainly an observation of deep value, don’t you think?

Leonard Quilty is a teacher with the Centre for Learning@Home in Okotoks, Alta. He can be reached by e-mail at lquilty@redeemer.ab.ca