Image from Disney's "Tangled"

Monday, April 13, 2015

Giving "The Good Life" a twist

I am sorry that I am a week late, but I spent last weekend in the car / with my family, so I was focusing them.

 While I was home, Daniel showed me a TedxUBIWiltz talk by a man named Tai Lopez.  He begins by discussing "The Good Life."  Everyone wants the good life right?  So he discusses his idea of how to get "The Good Life."  While Tai's discussion is not religious, you can very easily apply what he has to say about achieving "The Good Life."

Mr. Lopez's view of "The Good Life" consists of health, wealth, love and happiness.  Naturally, he does focus on wealth because we need money to not only sustain our lives, but sometimes we also need it to pursuit the other three things.  Putting that part aside, there are many things to take away from his talk.  Mentors are part of the most important part of success.  He says that we ought to learn from someone greater than us in what we want in life.  He frames this mentality with his "Law of 33%".  This law means you spend 33% of your time with people below you so that you can help them achieve their goals.  33% of your time with people on your level to have friends to struggle and triumph with while you work for your goals.  Finally 33% of your time with people above you - in fact he says people who are 10x above you - so that you can achieve your goals.  This way, you can give, live and learn. (I don't know what happened to that 1%...maybe that's when you're allowed to sleep?)

My favorite part though is when he breaks down success into a few virtues.
He begins these phrases with:
"Everyone wants the Good life but not everyone is willing to..."

Be Humble: No matter where you are in your life, you always have something to learn.  Never believe that you have the answer or that your way is perfect.  Don't pass up an opportunity to be better because you were arrogant.

Persevere: If there is something you want or something that is important to you, you can't just try once.  Go after what it takes.  "Knock and the Door shall be opened onto you."  Jesus never said you only had to knock once.  Keeping knocking.  Be willing to "work for free" - sometimes the benefits of persistence aren't perceptible unless you have hindsight.  Do not give up what could make you happy.

Read: This may not necessarily be a Catholic virtue, but it certainly is important - especially for that 33% of having a mentor.  Like he says, not all great teachers are still alive.  He often quotes the Classics.  Just add some Doctors of the Church and the Bible to that and there you go.  Some great mentors lie there if we are willing to seek out their advice.  He says he reads a book a day, but maybe a book a month is a good place to start and then progress to biweekly then weekly. 

Toughen up: In other words, temperance, sacrifice, all that good stuff.  I love that his first suggestion is to go without sugar for a week...sounds like a mini lent to me!  If we are stoic: "willing to sacrifice pleasure for a greater good" by his definition, then we are living for God.  What greater good is there than God?  Sacrificing our temporary will and submitting to Divine will is one of the best ways to better ourselves and attain "The Good Life."  His many suggestions also put our lives in perspective of modern day convenience with what is actually necessary to live and still live well.

Mr. Lopez says we must look outward for truth and for "The Good Life."  Even as a secular conversation, this not only is good advice, but it can easily be converted into a spiritual one.  Christ is the good life, and we must seek Him at all times.  Sometimes this is harder than others, which is why having a Spiritual Director for a mentor can be helpful.  Being humble before God and recognizing our sinful nature will keep us returning to Him on our knees with the realization of how much we need Him and how much He loves us.  No matter how much we fall, we must persevere in returning to Him each time and in developing our virtue.  Learning from spiritual writings by the saints, popes, and theologians can help guide us along the way too.  Finally, subjecting our will through self-discipline to the will of the Father is sure to lead us to happiness. 

Considering Tai Lopez's talk in a secular way may be helpful in attaining earthly success and happiness, but there is also truth in what he says for attaining eternal joy.  If we can apply these five basic principles to our spiritual lives, just think of the difference we could make for ourselves - even one could dramatically change our day-to-day spirituality.  Yes, this takes effort.  Yes, we may not have time for it, but this is our happiness we're talking about! Eternal happiness.  What greater goal is there?

Mr. Lopez finishes his talk with this quote from a Tom Hanks movie, which I think is a perfect final thought - especially regarding spirituality.

"It's supposed to be hard, the hard is what makes it great."

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