Biographies
provide details about how eminent persons waste opportunities and turn
themselves into fools. On some occasions, errors are made out of
insufficient knowledge, but frequently, vanity and greed play a major
role in self-destruction. What readers of biographies seek to learn
above all is how to overcome feelings of sadness and guilt after having
made a gigantic blunder.
Lamentations constitute the ultimate form of waste
Lamentations constitute the ultimate form of waste
As soon as we realize the full extent of
a major mistake, emotional misery arises from comparing our present to a
parallel universe that would have existed if we had not wasted our
opportunities. Such negative reactions overlook that errors and waste
are the result of the knowledge available to a person at a certain
moment. In essence, what an individual knows and feels are the only
relevant factors in his decisions.
A man should strive to discard waste as matter of principle, but after making a dreadful mistake and suffering major losses, he should avoid comparing himself with someone else. It makes little sense to lament how well you could be doing if you had made wiser choices. The only thing you can do is to learn from the situation so that you can perform better next time.
Each human being is born in different circumstances, each life is unique. Individuals grow at their own pace and learn their own lessons. Errors and waste provide us with painful but irreplaceable experience.
The iron principle of personal development
A man should strive to discard waste as matter of principle, but after making a dreadful mistake and suffering major losses, he should avoid comparing himself with someone else. It makes little sense to lament how well you could be doing if you had made wiser choices. The only thing you can do is to learn from the situation so that you can perform better next time.
Each human being is born in different circumstances, each life is unique. Individuals grow at their own pace and learn their own lessons. Errors and waste provide us with painful but irreplaceable experience.
The iron principle of personal development
Do
not linger on illogical comparisons that bring nothing but misery.
Stand up and look ahead. Your next achievement will bring you farther.
Mistakes will make you a better human being and show you the way to
happiness if you acquire rational habits. When it comes to avoiding
waste, no other habit is as powerful as frugality.
For more information about rational living and personal development, I refer you to my book The 10 Principles of Rational Living
Text: http://johnvespasian.blogspot.com
Image by Tambako the Jaguar under Creative Commons Attribution License. See the license terms under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/us
Text: http://johnvespasian.blogspot.com
Image by Tambako the Jaguar under Creative Commons Attribution License. See the license terms under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/us
