It’s interesting to think about the things you want to accomplish in life and work towards those goals.
This is, after all, what we’ve been taught to do since birth. But over time we accumulate other habits and end up spending our time on things that aren’t important to us.
Jim Collins, author of the classics Good to Great and Great by Choice, suggests an interesting thought experiment to help clean the windshield so-to-speak.
I – Word Understanding
thought experiment – an experiment carried out only in the imagination
clean the windshield – to make things more clear (to consider)
so-to-speak – indicates than an expression is not to be taken literally
II – Have Your Say
1. Suppose you woke up tomorrow and received two phone calls. The first phone call tells you that you have inherited $20 million, no strings attached. The second tells you that you have an incurable and terminal disease, and you have no more than 10 years to live. What would you do differently, and, in particular, what would you stop doing?
2. Whenever a person is not doing what he says he wants to do, he always has what sounds like a good excuse. And it’s always one or more of three:
1. ‘I haven’t the time.’
2.‘I haven’t the money.’
3 .‘My folks don’t want me to.’
