Thinking there’s not enough time… Wrong! You have 11 lifetimes squeezed into one great life!
We all know and feel this: There’s just not enough time, forget about in a day, there’s not even enough time in a lifetime! Well, it’s time to relax just a little bit (not too much, don’t get into a slouch over it). Researchers and other clever people reckon that if the average person lives to be 88 years old (after turning 11), such a person has 11 opportunities, in one life, to be truly great at something. That means, 11 different lives so to speak - different successes, different achievements, learning different things and becoming a master at something different 11 times over! And that’s just on average, nothing stops you from being extraordinary.
How does it work? Most people learn how to do one thing really great and then believe that that one thing is what they’re meant to do until they die, and we all die. So, if you’re good at computer programming, you program away without even considering that you might be a great chef, a fantastic teacher or even silly talented at playing a musical instrument.
Now then, there’s nothing wrong with being great at just one thing… But what if, just what if, you’re a great athlete and then one day you damage your knee and can’t run anymore? Unfortunately, as mere human beings with flaws, we then tend to go to that place where we fantasise about what it would've been like if I didn't hurt that damn knee, where I would've been in my life or career and what it would've been like. Instead, it’s the perfect opportunity to say: Well, this life is over, I can’t wait to see what I’ll learn next! I’m so excited about figuring out the next thing that I’m going to be really great at!
Some Asian cultures believe that a person should spend no more than 4-5 years in a specific career, their argument is quite compelling. In your first year you learn, in the second year you learn while contributing, in your third year you have everything down and are on your way to being great, in your fourth year you are at the top of your game and finally in your fifth year you become the teacher. After five years, they believe, there is not much more that you can excel at, you’re at the top and the only way to go is down… Hence, it’s time to move on, learn something new and become great at something different.
In essence, what does this mean? You are not a ghost. You are not just one thing. You are so much more. You have 11 lifetimes at your disposal, to do with whatever you choose. Take a lifetime to search for answers, another lifetime to build something amazing, another lifetime to learn a skill, to make a contribution, to change what you don’t like, to do that thing that sits at the back of your mind that you’ve always wondered about. If you’ve made mistakes, it’s ok, there’s another lifetime to do better now that you know better. If you feel like you’ve sacrificed your life for others, there’s another lifetime waiting as a reward. Become excited about the lives that are waiting and use them until there is nothing left! ;-)
This article is inspired by a post that first appeared on lifehack.org: http://www.lifehack.org/articles/communication/heres-shocking-truth-you-think-youve-wasted-your-life.html