Who Will Cry When You Die?: Life Lessons From The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari

by Robin Sharma

“Be the change that you wish to see most in your world.” And once you do, your life will change.

A meaningful life is made up of a series of daily acts of decency and kindness, which, ironically, add up to something truly great over the course of a lifetime.

your day has been a worthwhile one. Kindness, quite simply, is the rent we must pay for the space we occupy on this planet.

“Is there a wiser, more enlightened way of looking at this seemingly negative situation?”

“Perhaps the most valuable result of all education is the ability to make yourself do the thing you have to do, when it ought to be done, whether you like it or not.”

Stress itself is not a bad thing. It can often help us perform at our best, expand beyond our limits and achieve things that would otherwise astonish us.

The celebrated inventor Thomas Edison is well known for his statement: “Genius is 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration.”

your level of inspiration is lower than you know it should be, read a good self-help book or listen to a motivating audiocassette program. Attend a public lecture by someone you admire or spend a few hours studying the biography of one of your heroes. Start spending time

did in our lives to stay focused, balanced and at our peak amid the demands of our busy schedules, he made a powerful point. “Robin,” he said, “many people regularly go to a church or temple to stay grounded and centered. I’m

One study of 18,000 Harvard alumni found that every hour spent on exercise added three hours to the participants’ lives.

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 more about yourself as a person.

Once and for all, come to realize that pain is a teacher and failure is the highway to success.

…have patience with everything that remains unsolved in your heart. Try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books

“We don’t laugh because we are happy. We are happy because we laugh.”

local video store and rent a Three Stooges movie or buy

head down to your local video store to stock up on the latest funny movies? Then pick up a few books, perhaps something from Gary Larson’s Far Side series or the much-read Dilbert cartoons, to stimulate your laughter habit. Reconnect to your playful side and enjoy

The real secret to a life of abundance is to stop spending your days searching for security and to start spending your time pursuing opportunity.

A good movie can restore your perspective, reconnect you to the things you value most and keep you enthusiastic

moment was a wake-up call for me, an experience I will carry with me until the day that I die. I knew that I had to make some serious changes in the way that I was leading and in the way that I was living. So on that flight, sitting 35,000 feet above the world below, I promised myself that I would commit myself

that ‘the person who tries to do everything ultimately achieves nothing.’ I cannot tell you how much better

“The person who chases two rabbits catches neither,” while

“There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all.”

the simple gestures of life will have on those most deserving of them. And near the very top of my list of simple gestures that have profound consequences is the lost art of writing thank-you notes. Everyone loves getting mail—it’s a fact of

According to U.S. News & World Report, over the course of your lifetime, you will spend eight months opening junk mail, two years unsuccessfully returning phone calls and five years standing in line. Given this startling fact, one of the simplest yet smartest time management strategies you can follow is to never go anywhere without a book under your arm.

“There are no great acts. There are only small acts done with great love.”

The irony of being more compassionate is that the very act of giving to others makes you feel better as well. To

We have two ears and one mouth for a reason: to listen twice as much as we speak.

“A problem well stated is a problem half solved,” said Charles Kettering.

“Wisdom is knowing what to do next, skill is knowing how to do it, and virtue is doing it,”

It is easy to promise yourself you will spend more time with your kids “when things slow down at work” or “when I get that big promotion” or “next year when I get a little more time.” But if you don’t act on life, life has a habit of acting on you.

“Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself.”

As one of my favorite philosophers, Ralph Waldo Emerson, observed, “The reward for a thing well done, is to have done it.”

The first step to eliminating a negative habit is to become aware of it.

Its title read Tuesdays with Morrie: An Old Man, A Young Man and Life’s Greatest Lesson.

And Tuesdays with Morrie will be one that will sit out in front.

The ancient sages would only speak if the words they were about to utter passed three gates. At the first gate, they asked themselves, Are these words truthful? If so, the words could then pass on to the second gate. At the second gate, the sages asked, Are these words necessary? If so, they would then pass on to the third gate, where they would ask, Are these words kind?

you can practice becoming more attentive to the present and develop this skill within a relatively short period of time.

www.robinsharma.com

The weekday edition of the New York Times contains more information than the average person was exposed to during an entire lifetime in seventeenth-century England.

“When I admire the wonder of a sunset or the beauty of the moon, my soul expands in worship of the Creator.”

restorative

Giving the gift of your time by volunteering to serve those who have less than you is an excellent way to remind yourself on a regular basis of the abundance that exists in your life.

“I don’t know what your destiny will be but one thing I do know: The only ones among you who will be happy are those who have sought and found how to serve.”

Cultivating great friendships is one of the surest ways to find more happiness and joy in your life. Recent studies show that those with a wide circle of friends and family live longer, laugh more and worry less. But friendships, like all other good things in life, take time, energy and commitment.

So to be paid more money in your work, you must add more value to the world. And the best way to begin adding value to the world is to start becoming a more valuable person. Acquire skills no one else has. Read books no one else is reading.

“If you follow the crowd, the place you will most likely end up at is the exit.”

“Read every day something no one else is reading. Think every day something no one else is thinking. It is bad for the mind to be always part of unanimity.”

“I’d rather have roses on my table than diamonds on my neck.”

“The tree that has the most fruit is the tree that bends to the ground,”

The important thing is that you find some time every day to “break bread” with those you love most and consistently work at building a richer, more meaningful family life.