Life is Art

To all Christians in the world, Happy Good Friday and Happy Easter.

Have been busy with work, Jap class, charity for blind children, yoga classes and other stuffs =P

Anyways, here's a great article by Jim Rohn. Enjoy!


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Life is Art by Jim Rohn

In my years teaching people to be successful, I have seen that
basically people break their lives down into two major parts: Wealth-building
and the rest of their lives. Having done a lot of reflection on these
two topics - wealth and life - I am coming to some new conclusions about
how to perceive the two.

Until recently I thought that there was a significant difference in how
we should tackle the two areas. In fact, I thought that the two topics
should be addressed in almost opposite fashion.

You see, wealth-building is just math. While life -- Life is art.

Think back with me to high school. Most of us were required to take
math and most of us probably took art as well. Now, think about your final
exams in the two areas. Your math paper was graded on hard facts:

Ten times ten is always one-hundred
Thirty divided by three is always ten
Seven plus seven is always fourteen
Fifty minus twenty-five is always twenty-five

There is always just one answer in math. The answers are hard fact, set
in stone. Math is a science. It is formulaic. You can know the outcome
before it happens, every time.

But what about your final art project? Art is much more subjective.
"Beauty," they say, "is in the eye of the beholder." There is no one right
answer.

Think of the different styles of the famous artists:

Renoir. Monet. Picasso. Rockwell. Warhol.

Different people find different styles beautiful, and that is what
makes art, art. So how does this fit with Wealth-building and life?
Wealth-building is like math:

If you add $1000 to your retirement account each month and gain seven
percent interest over twenty years, you can know now how much you will
have then. It is math. If you buy a rental property for $200,000 now and
it increases in value by three percent a year, you know exactly how
much you will be able to sell it for in ten years. The beauty of math is
in the knowing. You can work the system, set it on auto-pilot and the
math does the work for you, and you know the outcome.

But life? Life is art. And that is the beauty of life. You do not know
how it is going to turn out. Life, like art, is always changing.
Different people provide different colors. When you make a mistake you can go
back, erase it or even paint right over it. You can change the scenery.
Life, like art, is ever evolving, and what looks good to one person is
of no interest to another. And that is what makes life beautiful.

Another lesson I think we can draw is that in life we should do our
math, of course, but life isn't made up of just wealth-building.
Wealth-building should serve our ability to live our lives. Jesus, the master
teacher, said that our lives are not made up of the abundance of our
possessions. He didn't mean that possessions aren't good, just that wealth
isn't what life is all about.

So let me ask you: Are you spending more time on your math or your art?
Do your math. Everybody should do their very best at their
wealth-building plan so they can take care of themselves and their families.

But life is about the art. What does your canvas look like? What kind
of picture are you painting? What kind of pot are you creating? What
kind of statue are you sculpting? Take your time, make bold strokes, use
brilliant colors, and make of your life the most beautiful masterpiece
that you can.

In other words, do your math so you can focus on your art.

To Your Success,
Jim Rohn