Here are some interesting
questions you might want to
try answering. One: If you
could completely change places with
any other person in the world, would
you do it? And who would that person
be? Two: If you could work at any
job you could choose, would that work
be different from the work you're
doing now? Three: If you could live in
any part of the country you want to
live in, would you move from where
you are now living? Four: If you could
go back to age 12 and live your life
from that point over again, would you
do it?
Studies indicate that the great
majority of people, even though they
have a certain amount of dissatisfaction
with their present lives and don't seem to be as happy as they might be,
will answer "no" to all four questions.
A person often feels when he's accomplished
everything he's worked and struggled for so long to achieve, he
finds himself depressed more and
more of the time. He has a fine job and
an excellent income, a beautiful
home, a wonderful spouse and children.
In fact, everything is finally just
as he'd planned it for so many years.
And for no reason that he can put his
finger on, all the fun and enthusiasm
has strongly disappeared. He's listless
and unhappy, and he can't think of a
single reason why.
This has become a common modern
malady, especially in retirement, and
it's what so often happens when a person runs out of goals. This is when the game of life begins
to go to pot, and the person needs to remind himself of
the basic rules for successful, enthusiastic living. And
the first rule is that a human being must have something
worthwhile toward which he's working. Without that,
everything else, even the most remarkable achievements
of the past and all the trappings of worldly success tend
to turn sour. Achieving our life goals can be compared to
opening our presents on Christmas morning and watching
those we love open theirs. We look forward to the
day, plan, and work toward it. Suddenly it is there and
all of the presents have been opened, and then what?
Well, we must then turn our thoughts and attention to
other things. The successful novelist begins planning his
next book before he completes the one he's working on.
The scientist always has something new and challenging
to turn to when he completes a project. The teacher has
a new class coming up. The young family has children
to raise and get through school, the new home to buy,
the promotion to work for.
But for millions who reach their 40s and 50s and find
they've done all they set out to do and that there are no
new challenges to give them stimulus and direction,
there often comes the most trying time of their lives –
the search for meaning, for new meaning, and it must be
found if the old interest and vitality are to be restored to
their lives, if they're to achieve renewal as persons.
If you understand this, even the search for new
meaning can bring new interest into your life. You've
got to say to yourself, "All right, I've done what I've set
out to do. Now I must find something new and interesting
to do."
Source: Earl Nightingale's The Essence of Success,
edited by Carson V. Conant.
Learn more about Earl Nightingale and his many
timeless books and audio programs.