Are you 'for real busy' or just busy like an ant?

"... It is not enough to be busy; so are ants. The question is, what are we busy about?"

>> Henry David Thoreau. Author, naturalist, philosopher. Best known for documented experiments in simple living in his book Walden.

Go on now read the post the below, and then geet r done.

Knowing what is really important to you

"... How different our lives are when we really know what is deeply important to us, and keeping that picture in mind, we manage ourselves each day to be and to do what really matters to us."

>> Stephen Covey. Author of the international best seller The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.

This is an excellent point. Think about what matters most in your life. It can include a number of things such as family, friends, work, hobbies, travel or something random like fantasy baseball or competitive eating. Whatever floats your boat. Remember that we are all unique creatures. Try and rank these in order of importance. And then figure out how much time you spend on each per week (you're allowed to choose different ones). Begin!

If we have no time to enjoy, no time to explore...

“... If we have no time to enjoy, no time to explore, no time for family and friends, no time to refresh and re-create the root of recreation, then what exactly do we have?”

"... Time is the fastener of friendship and family and gives us the space to explore more than the buttons on the snooze alarm."

>> Joe Robinson. Author, keynote speaker and work-life balance expert

More on retirement...

“ We focus on retirement for the same reason we look forward to the weekend: we hate our jobs”

This one is by a reviewer named September17th from Amazon.com for the book 'Die Broke'. I promise to keep searching in random places for words of wisdom.

Is retirement right for you?

"... Conventional wisdom says go to school, get a degree or qualification, get a job, work til you 60's then hopefully have enough to enjoy your "twilight years". One day we will arrive at that magical time when we can apparently sit back and enjoy the fruits of our labour. In the meantime we defer living to accomplish the doing."

>> A quote from the Perfect Life Project that got me thinking more about my own assumptions

I took some time today to read up on retirement. Background info about me in 10 words or less: I started my first job out of college recently. Being a little anal-retentive I spent a lot of time worrying and stressing about how much I will need to save each month for retirement. Numerous excel spreadsheets and calculations later got me nowhere. Then it occurred to me that I haven't thought at all about a much more important question: do I want to retire and do I even like the concept of retirement?

I've decided to still save some money for when I'm older but to also create a travel and entertainment fund for the next 12 months. I'll post one more quote and then I'm off to tap into that fund! I'll be much happier looking back when I'm 60 about the memories I'll make tonight!

Small details

"... Every man's life ends the same way. It is only the details of how he lived and how he died that distinguish one man from another."

>> Ernest Hemingway. American novelist, journalist and WWI ambulance driver

The First Post

"... When I was 17 I read a quote that went something like, ‘If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right.’ It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself:

‘If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?’ And whenever the answer has been ‘no’ for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something."

>> Steve Jobs, co-founder and CEO of Apple. Maker of your iPod. An excerpt from his commencement address to Stanford grads.

Welcome friend! Here's what you can look forward to in this blog: posts that are meant to inspire and remind us of the need to manage our lives well. The posts will largely consist of thought provoking quotes gathered from far and wide along with some of my own comments about them. Being a realistic guy I realized that posting other people's reflections does mean less work for me. Just trying to keep it real. Please enjoy!