Keep Your Eye on the Ball

Life can look kind of tough sometimes. But maybe it's how we go about looking ...

Daigu Riokan ("Great Goof" or "Big Fool") became enlightened and decided not to take students but to live as a hermit and subsist on alms. Consequently, he was very, very poor.

However, that's not the end of the story.

One day a thief broke into his hut, and finding nothing worth stealing, trashed the place. Finding this, Daigu Riokan wrote this haiku --

The thief left it there,
there in the window --
the shining moon.

Law 23 of Business Problems

This is a simple law of nature, but one which is very handy:

Every Business has One of Four Problems: Employees, Capital, Machinery, or Inventory

That's it.

Some businesses have more than one of these problems. Problems aren't necessarily bad, but the problems do need good solutions if the enterprise is to flourish. If mismanaged, employees will shipwreck you. So will mismanaging your capital, machinery, or inventory.

It's something to consider when planning a business venture. If you can solve these problems, and if you can locate customers and market successfully to them, the business might do very well. There's more to life than running a business, but a business can be a good way to finance your life, and lots of people enjoy the challenge.

The astute reader will say, "Oh, but what about personal services businesses?" For example, dogwalkers and bookkeepers and barbers and lawyers. These businesses do not necessarily require any significant amounts of employees, nor capital, nor machinery, nor inventory.

In these cases, you are selling your time, and time is the only commodity in the entire universe which is absolutely limited to you. You are not obtaining the leverage afforded by employees, capital, machinery, or inventory, so in this case the best plan is to (a) earn a lot of money for your time, relative to your needs; (b) enjoy the thing you are doing; and (c) stash away and invest for a rainy day.

Knowing this important secret of the universe, go forth and prosper.

How to Pick Up Girls (Part 2)

San Francisco State, 1972: I'd read a book about how to pick up girls. Actually, it was about how to get laid, and was entitled "Scoremanship". I cannot recommend the book for its attitude, but it had this one magnificent technique for meeting women.

[Read more ... ]

She Ain't Heavy

Two monks were once travelling together down a muddy road. A heavy rain was falling. As they came around a bend, they met a lovely girl in a silk kimono and sash, unable to cross the intersection.

"Come on, girl," said the first monk. Lifting her in his arms, he carried her over the mud.

The second monk did not speak again until that night when they reached a lodging temple. Then he no longer could restrain himself. "We monks don't go near females," he said. "It is dangerous. Why did you do that?"

"I left the girl there," the first monk said. "Are you still carrying her?"

Law 23 of Luxury

This is a simple law of nature, but one which is very handy:

The One True Luxury in Life is Time.

That's it.

Assuming that you have talent, apply yourself, and have reasonable luck, you can build a business, create a monument, do something wonderful.

In this endeavor, you may require money, people, knowledge, natural resources. Assuming you have talent, apply yourself, and have reasonable luck, there is no particular shortage of any of these things in the universe. For all practical purposes, from your point of view these things are unlimited. That is, if you have talent, apply yourself, and have reasonable luck, you can obtain pretty much any amount of these things. So you can build a business, create a monument, do something wonderful.

But, for practical purposes, there is one thing in the Universe which is absolutely limited: Your time.

We don't know how much you've got, but we do know that when you've used it up, there is no more. Therefore this is the most precious thing in your Universe. More precious than gold, more precious than fame, more precious than water.

If you've got lots of time, you must be rich.

But what if you spend all your time on ... stuff? What if you spend all your time moving toward something, but hardly any of your time being here? What if your time is not enjoyed? What if you're spending time doing stuff you don't like?

You are spending the most precious thing in your Universe. Is this wise?

Spend wisely: Planning with care, live the life you have. The one true luxury is time.

Knowing this important secret of the universe, go forth and prosper.