Perspective Archives | jeremyrolleston.com

Fishing without knowing it is not fish you’re after

“Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing it is not fish they are after”
(Henry David Thoreau)

It’s a funny quote this isn’t it because it could be interpreted in a few ways. For me it makes me think of two things.

Firstly, the journey. In today’s society we are so goal focussed. And I’m certainly guilty of this – both as an individual and also as someone who writes on this and speaks on this a lot. But ‘guilty’ is not the right word because being purpose-driven and having a dream and chasing goals around this dream is not a bad thing at all. In fact it is a great thing. BUT, often we spend our whole lives chasing the goal (our whole lives fishing), without realising that it is not in the achievement, but in the activity itself that we find enjoyment, meaning and value. Is the contestant on The Biggest Loser proud of losing all that weight? Of course. But do they also look back and realise they are prouder of the person they’ve become through the journey that enabled them to lose that weight?! Is the Olympian proud of getting to the Olympics? Of course. But are they also proud of the journey and what it took to even qualify and get there?!

Secondly, perspective. When I wrote A Life That Counts and chose the title it was because I wanted to challenge us as to what it means to live a life that really matters and stands for something. I’m all for following my/your dreams and achieving my/your goals. I write about this and speak about this so often. But, they’re just part of the picture of life. They’re not the whole fabric. The purpose of life is far greater than our own personal fulfilment, our career and our own peace of mind. It is not measured solely by an Olympic medal, by a particular goal achieved, by how wealthy you are and what you earn, by how many twitter followers you have, or by public recognition and fame. After all, at our funeral and after we die, it’s not our achievements, our degrees, our bank balance or our fame that people will really remember and speak about. I write more about this in the last chapter of my book. What is it to live a life that counts?

Furthermore, happiness and fulfilment aren’t ‘out there’, they’re within. They’re independent of circumstance and they don’t rest solely on whether we achieve a specific goal. Succeeding in the game of life is bigger than all this. How often do we go running after things that we think will make us happy, only to realise that they don’t ultimately satisfy? The next car. The next job. The next girl or boy. The next drug. The next adventure or experience. We go fishing to catch one kind of fish and realise it doesn’t make us happy, so we try and catch another one. We spend our whole lives fishing without realising it’s not the fish that will make us happy. As a christian, it reminds me of the wise words of Jesus “What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world yet forfeits his soul. And what can a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26). For me, Jesus is the only one that could satisfy my heart and fill that God-shaped hole that I tried to fill with so many other things. He is the only one that could fill me with a peace which is unexplainable.

Many men go fishing their whole lives, without knowing it is not fish they’re after. Food for thought.

The irony of judement

There’s a funny story to when I learnt this. I had won some money whilst working at ANZ and was able to spend it on my own self-development. I could do whatever I wanted as long as it got signed off. Well, whilst some went off and started their masters, and others did some specific courses on offer … I went ice-climbing in NZ.

Well aside from that being a life experience (and a frightening one for that matter), I also did a whole host of personality profiles. I did one called the LSI (Lifestyles Inventory) and as part of this you get your family / friends/ boss / employees to fill out a comprehensive questionnaire on you. And then you do the same yourself. You then compare the two results and low and behold others see you differently to how you see yourself.

The life lesson learnt – you judge others by their actions but yourself by your intentions.

It is said that when you point the finger you have one finger pointing at someone else, but don’t forget you have 4 fingers still pointing back at you. And the Bible puts it like this “Get the log out of your own eye before you get the speck out of someone elses”.

Challenge
Before we judge others, we should first judge ourselves.
And if ever we do judge others we should never forget to judge ourselves by the same standards to avoid being hypocritical.
After all, we judge others by their actions but ourselves by our intentions.

Feeling down ? Feeling sorry for yourself ? Read this !

Some days you just need to be reminded how lucky and fortunate you are. It just gives you a good dose of perspective. A kick in the butt in a good way … so be inspired …stop feeling sorry for yourself. Realise how lucky you are with all the things you have and all the things you’ve done and all the things you’ve wanted that you’ve got. Pick yourself up, smile and take this image with you as you head on into today or tomorrow.

Advice from a Tree

It is more blessed to give than to receive

We have so much STUFF ! And so much that we don’t use or don’t need. Do we really need that extra gagdet, that extra dish or kitchen utensil, that next toy, more wine …

I have tried to start a tradition in our family at Christmas that we don’t waste money buying each other big presents that we don’t need but instead put money in to buy someone else less fortunate a present that they will truly value. We are so blessed after all. So after reading an inspiring post of Sarah Wilson’s recently I thought I’d share a thought. Why not buy an inspired gift.

Basically, you buy a gift for someone that goes to someone else in need. A goat. Or a bike! I do this at Christmas. Do you really need another toaster ? Does someone else at the wedding need another bowl ? Are there people in serious need in the world ? Are you blessed ? … then here’s a smart, easy way to bless others. (There’s lots of organisations that do this – Unicef, Oxfam, Childfund to name a few).

Here’s a few of my favourite gifts:

A Bike: $87. UNICEF has found that in some parts of the world a bike is one of the most important modes of transport for villages. It is particularly helpful for health workers to reach vulnerable children in remote communities. It is often used to transport other Inspired Gifts like the vaccine carrier.
Measles vaccines: $31 will protect 100 children from measles.
Family water kit: $127
Goat: Sarah tells the hilarious story of wondering how the goat she and her family gave at Christmas was going and of writing “sponsor letter” from the goat and posteding it six months later…”thank you for my life, milking time is always fun”…). Hilarious !

Here’s what others’ gift-giving antics delivered around the world last year:

So my challenge today … consider giving an inspired gift. After all, it is more blessed to give than receive and in any case … the fragrance of the rose always stays in the hand of the giver !!!

The Innocent Project – it’s not where you start but where you finish ! (II)

You watched the first part of Dewey Bozella’s story last week. Now see the second part – him accepting his 2011 Arthur Ashe award for courage. What an amazing man !

“… never let fear determine who you are
never let where you come from determine where you’re going”

Remember what I wrote last week – CHOICES & IT’S NOT WHERE YOU START BUT HOW YOU FINISH.

Now add the quote above and see and hear Dewey is his acceptance speech. Carry him and his attitude with you when life doesn’t make sense and when things aren’t going your way !

The Game

How many seminars are there on getting wealthy ? How many books on the way to become a millionaire ? How many times have we said to ourselves “If only I had more money !” ?

And as a result most people work with the following goal in mind: “I’ll just work until I have X dollars and then I’ll do what I want.”

The problem with this as I see it in two-fold …

Do we really want to BE millionaires. Or do we actually just want what their millions can buy. Holidays. Butlers. Exotic travel. Perhaps a massage on the deck whilst you listen to waves lapping against the timber posts of your thatched-roof bungalow. It all sounds good doesn’t it ! The fantasy isn’t the $1,000,000 in the bank – isn’t it the lfestyle of complete freedom it supposedly allows. Isn’t the aim to create freedom of time and place so you can do whatever YOU want. Rather than more, don’t we want more quality and less clutter. Don’t we want freedom from doing what we don’t like and the ability to pursue our dreams without reverting to work for work’s sake ?
Do we actually know what X is ? If we don’t define the “what I want” activities the X figure just increases indefinitely to avoid the fear-inducing uncertainty of this void we live it. And will X be enough anyway when even $1,000,000 is not very much in a world where traditional retirement could span 30 years and inflation lowers your purchasing power 2-4% per year.

Our solution to date has been to resign ourselves to 9 – 5 (and more usually) drudgery in exchange for (sometimes) relaxing weekends and the occasional keep-it-short-or-get-fired vacation. The life of a lemming. The blind quest for cash. An all-consuming routine which conveniently stops us from having the time to consider our dreams and consider how pointless the routine of the money wheel is. We sacrifice the most physically capable years of out life for the retirement solution way down the track. Deep down we know it is an illusion, but with everyone participating in the same game it’s easy to forget what the real game is. Do we really want to be those people 20 years ahead of us with the

The real game is more than money. So what do you WANT ? Freedom and excitement I’m guessing. But what does that mean ? Define it. What would excite you ? What does freedom mean for you ?

Ponder this and start by realising that the real game is far more than money.