What we Forget in our Pursuit of Happiness

A boat is docked in a tiny Mexican fishing village.

A tourist complimented the local fishermen on the quality of their fish and asked how long it took to catch them.

"Not very long." they answered in unison.

"Why didn't you stay out longer and catch more?"

The fishermen explained that their small catches were sufficient to meet their needs and those of their families.

"But what do you do with the rest of your time?"

"We sleep late, fish a little, play with our children, and take siestas with our wives. In the evenings, we go into the village to see our friends, have a few drinks, play the guitar, and sing a few songs.

We have a full life."
The tourist interrupted,

"I have an MBA from Harvard and I can help you!
You should start by fishing longer every day.
You can then sell the extra fish you catch.
With the extra revenue, you can buy a bigger boat."

Connecting the Dots - Steve Jobs

This is the video and transcript of a story from Steve Jobs' life that he shares with the students of Stanford.

"I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big deal. Just three stories.

The first story is about connecting the dots.

I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out?

Inspiring Quotes from Einstein

"The only source of knowledge is experience.”

“Information is not knowledge.”

“Learning is experience. Everything else is just information.”

“Genius is 1% talent and 99% percent hard work…”

The only sure way to avoid making mistakes is to have no new ideas.”

“Once we accept our limits, we go beyond them.”

“Only those who attempt the absurd can achieve the impossible”

“We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”

“Intellectuals solve problems, geniuses prevent them.”

Understanding Value

Once upon a time in a small town in India a well known speaker started off his seminar by holding up a 500 Rupee note.

To the 200 people listening to him he asked "Who would like to have this 500 Rupee note?" 

Hands started to rise. Everyone wanted it. 

He said, "I am going to give this note to one of you but first let me do this." 

He then crumbled the note up. He then asked, "Who still wants it?"

Still all the hands were up in the air.

"Well", he replied. "What if I do this?" and he dropped it on the ground and started to grind it to the floor with his shoe. He picked up the note now all crumbled and filthy, and asked again "Who still wants this?