This month I was inspired from an email newsletter I receive from flying solo – an enews letter for the mirco business community – Peter Crocker wrote about Jerry Seinfeld’s interview with Andrew Denton, I have taken the words of Jerry and had a think about my 3 rules for life! – Thanks Peter for the inspiration.
So what are Jerry Seinfeld’s 3 rules for life?
1. Bust your ass
Jerry Seinfeld: “…whatever you do just kill yourself. Work as hard as you can, only good can come of it.”
2. Pay attention
Jerry Seinfeld: “People just don’t notice enough about what’s going on around them. You can absorb and learn from everything around you all the time. Ask people questions all the time.”
3. Fall in love
Jerry Seinfeld: “[this] isn’t really a romantic love … like if I get a really good cup of coffee I like to just go, you know what, just hang on a second, ‘This is a fantastic cup of coffee!!’ And I’ll ask everyone, ‘Isn’t this great coffee?’ … you will enjoy life more if you do that.”
On the back of what Jerry Seinfeld has said, I have put together my three rules for life.
1. Live Your Own Life Plan
If you are going to ‘bust your ass’, make sure you are doing it for the right reasons and for what is important in your life.
I had a life changing experience in 2007 when I did training with George Kinder in the USA and put together my own life plan. George uses 3 questions to get people thinking about what is most important to them:
Q1 – If you had enough money to look after your needs now and into the future how would you live your life, what would you be doing and would you change anything from what you are doing today?
Q2 – If you visit you doctor and discover you have a rare illness, you will never feel sick, but you will be dead sometime in the next 5 – 10 years without notice. Based on your situation today, would you change anything, what would you do in your time left remaining?
Q3 – With 24 hours left to live, if you confront your very real mortality, what do you wish you had seen, been and what will you miss?
Somewhere in here is what is most important to you, for me it is about my family, friends and ability to educate and empower others.
2. Spend time as a human ‘being’ rather than a human ‘doing’!
We often spend a tone of time doing things and focusing on getting somewhere or achieving something. The energy of being rather than doing is a powerful reflection for me to sit back and take in what I have achieved so far, where I am in the journey and a place to relax and take stock of life.
On the road to wealth creation we often don’t reflect on our successes, the big and small stuff, getting a better savings habit in place, being more mindful of our money and our relationship with it! It all counts!
3. Be Inspired and Have Passion
We all have limited resources in life, one of which is our time. If you’re going to invest 38 hours a week with working, make sure you’re doing something that inspires you and you are passionate about!
Answering George Kinder’s 3 Questions above can help map some of this out, change can be a challenge but as my mum always says “You’re a long time dead!”
What are your three rules for life?
Check out You Tube for Jerry’s Interview around the 7mins 40 Secs is where he talks to Andrew Denton about his 3 Rules for life.
If you need assistance in exploring these further give our office a call, but most importantly start your journey to being free around your money and creating wealth with understanding.
Scott Malcolm (scott@money-mechanics.com.au) is Director of Money Mechanics (ph: 6257 5557) a fee for service advice firm who are authorised to provide financial advice through PATRON Financial Advice AFSL 307379.
The information provided on this article is of a general nature only. It has been prepared without taking into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. Before acting on this information you should consider its appropriateness having regard to your own objectives, financial situation and needs.