“At the end of your life no one that matters will care how well you managed a balance sheet, but the balance you managed to maintain in your life will have mattered to them.”
Today I am sitting in my Management Principles class at the St Mary’s University of Minnesota still in route to get the degree that I promised Nan that I would get and today I had the privilege of being exposed to a man by the name of Jim Klobuchar (http://www.jimklobuchar.com).
Jim was very entertaining and had lots of great stories to tell, but he repeated a couple of different times, “If there was one gift I could give to you it would be the gift of curiosity.”
It was such a simple statement, but it truly is thought provoking. I immediately jumped to how closely it matches to the idea of learning something new every day, but in such an elegantly simple way differs in that it is a mechanism to learn that lesson. Curiosity is such a strong learning tool and I hope the both of you have ample curiosity in your lives.
As for my lesson for today even know I have been doing Yoga for many years and heard the statement before, Jim shared with us the meaning of Namaste. The meaning of the word is, ‘I bow to the divine in you.’ Such a powerful statement of respect and a wish for another and with that said.
Namaste,
Dad
Big Brother
On September 6, 2013 you became a big brother. I wish there was a ton of advice that I could offer, but even though I have both a younger brother and younger sister I am still learning what it means to be a big brother.
Here are some of the lessons I have learned so far:
- Be Patient
- At times you will be frustrated with your sister, but that frustration will pass and she will always be your sister.
- Let Her Make Mistakes
- Part of growing up will is learning and we learn the most from our mistakes. If you try to keep your sister from making mistakes you will be taking away her opportunities to learn.
- Protect Her
- Sometimes you will need to step in and keep her from making mistakes, which is contradictory to #2. You will make mistakes in picking the right times to protect her and you will need to learn from your mistake
- Be a Student
- Accept the fact that your sister will sometimes know more than you, she will be right and you will be wrong. This doesn’t mean you have failed it hopefully means that we all have succeeded.
- Be a Teacher
- Nothing like continuing the contradictions, but remember being a teacher does not mean being a preacher.
SoFeyen - The Personal Site of Matt Feyen 