Giving Thanks

I woke up this morning in pain again. I injured my shoulder wrestling a few weeks ago, and it doesn’t seem to be healing. Certainly not as fast as it would have healed when I was in my 30s.

This is one of the many execrable things that happen to you when you reach 60. But it’s hardly the worst. The worst is that you can’t avoid thinking about death. People you know — colleagues, friends, and family members — are seriously sick or dying.

Right now, I see death as a hateful thief — ready to rob me of the time I need to accomplish the goals I have yet to accomplish.

There is so much still to do: books to write, movies to make, business to conduct, and places to see. But most of all there are relationships I owe time to.

A reader recently wrote asking me why, when discussing how I spend my day, I don’t talk about the time I spend with my family and friends. The main reason is that I don’t feel I should be dragging them into public view without their permission. But another reason is that I write mostly about what I’ve learned… and I haven’t learned how to do a very good job of spending time with them.

When I think about making good use of the time I have left, it’s clear to me that working on my personal relationships should be my top priority.

So why don’t I do that now?

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Balancing Act

Last week I gave you my formula for making a ton of money without compromising your values. But that doesn’t mean everything will be smooth and easy. You will still have lots of trouble giving time to your other priorities — to your health, to your family and friends, and to your hobbies.

My business life got much better in 1993 when I started to focus on long-term profitability and quality. But I wasn’t able to master my time and get all my other personal goals accomplished until I started writing about personal achievement. That forced me to rethink everything I was doing. And after several years of trying different time-management programs, I finally arrived at a system that allowed me to get everything done that I had neglected for the previous 30 years.

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The Power of Trust

My friend “Roy” is a talented businessman and — in most respects — a natural-born entrepreneur. He’s made several fortunes in his life, but he’s lost them too. As I write this, he is starting over again — for the fourth time. “My life has been a roller coaster,” he said to me over a beer the other night. “And I don’t know why.”

I know why. When it comes to building wealth, Roy is missing one key characteristic. That characteristic?

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