How To Enhance Your Life - Dean Amory
Techniques for enhancing the quality of your life
Techniques for enhancing the quality of your life
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HOW TO REMOVE OBSTACLES TO PERSONAL<br />
GROWTH<br />
Do you know how to calculate the amount of fear holding you back in life? Take a pen and a piece<br />
of paper. On top of the page, write down your current age, for instance "34 years old." At the<br />
bottom, indicate how old you intend to grow before you die. "Death at 80" is a reasonable target.<br />
Now comes the mathematical part of the exercise. Draw a straight line connecting your current age<br />
with your death. That line represents the number of days that you have left on earth. In our<br />
example, the difference between 80 and 34 leaves you with 46 years, that is, almost 17.000 days.<br />
The last part of the game consists of deciding how you are going to use those 17.000 days.<br />
Now, draw a vertical line on your page, which divides your future in two areas. On the left side of<br />
the line, you can write down safe and commonplace goals. On the right side, difficult and<br />
disruptive ambitions. The rules of the exercise allow you to list as many activities as you wish,<br />
provided that you don't run out of time to live.<br />
Boring projects are easy to name and quantify. They include, amongst others, looking for better<br />
jobs, cleaning the house and going on holidays. Don’t forget mundane tasks such as working five<br />
days a week, watching television, walking the dog, washing your car once per month and shopping<br />
for new clothes. When your remaining term of 46 years is up, you are dead.<br />
You only need to worry about the opposite side of the line if you have unused time, which is<br />
unlikely. The truth is that most people will allocate their complete lifespan to left-side tasks.<br />
What about the right side of the line? Does anyone actually write down adventurous, risky goals?<br />
Are there people foolish enough to risk total failure in order to pursue their dreams? Is it not better<br />
to stick to attainable objectives? This is the type of activities that usually come up under the label<br />
"difficult and disruptive:"<br />
1. Live in Paris for a year (500 days, including preparation and removals)<br />
2. Start up and grow a global business (3000 days)<br />
3. Write twenty great books (3000 days)<br />
4. Save and invest until you are able to live from dividends (6000 days)<br />
5. Learn to cook according to good nutrition principles (300 days)<br />
6. Lose weight and acquire habits that allow you to stay in good shape (500 days)<br />
One could argue that this game is useless, since it has no winner and no loser. Since the same<br />
individual appears on both sides of the line, what is the point? What is the purpose of the exercise?<br />
The answer is that, paradoxically, the subjects on each side of the line are different persons.<br />
One of them is boring, the other fearless. One of them is aimless, the other determined. One of<br />
them is predictable, the other exciting. The lesson is that, one day, the 46 years will be consumed<br />
all the same. At the end, results will be trivial or spectacular, meaningless or irreplaceable.<br />
If you don't like the outcome of your calculations, take a blank piece of paper, draw a new vertical<br />
line, and start the exercise again. After a few times, you will get quite good at it. At one point, you<br />
will begin to fear boring activities more than risky ones. If you are already there, congratulations,<br />
now you know how to win the game.<br />
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