Life Is Short - Invest it! - Part II

“ Teach us to number our days, that we may have a heart of understanding”

When you learn to take life by each passing day, each passing hour, each passing minute and seconds, you will realize indeed that life is short. Many people waste life. Several others just spend it. Only a few invest it. I sincerely hope you are part of those who invest your life, especially for eternity.

Can I go back to the illustration I used in the 1st part of this write up?

Remember that we had assumed that you’ll have 30,000 gallons of water in your tank if you’ll live to be 82. If you live in Africa, the sad news is that you have less than 30,000 gallons of water. In Nigeria for example, the average life expectancy is about 45, so, you only have about 16,500 gallons of water. How are you handling this….in a desert?

It is important to note that there are things all around us that attempt to punch holes…big holes….in the tank of water. Let’s go through a few of them


1. Smoking

To be candid, it’s really silly to smoke. It’s one of the best ways to shorten your life. You can easily diminish the quantity in your tank by over a third when you smoke. Smoking gives a lot of short term and long term health issues and makes your breath stink. This is aside the money you waste purchasing cigarette sticks.

Take for example someone who starts to smoke at age 25. If he lives to be 50, he’ll have spent 25 years smoking. Let’s assume he smokes on average a pack of cigarette everyday, he’ll have consumed almost 10,000 packs of cigarette in his lifetime.

2. Drug addiction

And then there are drugs and drug addiction: heroin, cocaine, amphetamines and all the rest. No successful person uses drugs. That is a fact of life. Drugs make you stupid for long periods of time, and that limits your potential for success.

The promise of drugs is a "high" or a "feeling of euphoria." For example, heroin causes a euphoric "rush." I have heard it described as "better than sex." I have heard it described as "like being in heaven." All kinds of things. The problem is that the feeling always comes at a cost once the high ends. The cost is a feeling of depression of greater magnitude. You cannot have the high without the despair or depression. You can safely ignore anyone who tells you otherwise. So you are forced to either maintain the high or absorb the despair. Unfortunately, the despair lasts far longer than the high does. So what have you gained?

3. Too much TV!

I hope some people will not ask for my head with this point. This is one of the most deceptive ways to waste time and waste your life!

One thing you will notice about successful adults is that they watch far less TV than unsuccessful adults. A successful adult thinks, "Life is short! Who has time to waste it on TV?"

If you spend an average of 3 hours in front of the TV set everyday (many people I know spend more), and you live to be 60, you’ll have spent 7.5 years in front of your TV set! That sure looks like a waste. Doesn’t it?

I’ll like to throw this open at this stage.

I’ll appreciate if all my readers can contribute to this article by discussing what they think can punch holes in the tank, in their own opinion, and any other comments.

Shoot!