Gamble, Cheat, Lie, and Steal

Imagine that it's the end of your life. You're in a large room in your custom-built mansion with priceless art on the walls. You're lying on a satin sheet in a brass bed. All around you are precious jewels, designer clothes, drawers full of money. What's wrong with this picture? You are all alone.

Sometimes we get so caught up in the pursuit of "things," we forget what is really important in life. Life is not about being poor, but happy; neither is it about being a millionaire. It is about using everything you've been given, and everything you can get, and doing something worthwhile with it. The more you can enrich other people's lives, the greater your success becomes.

There are many ways of giving back. You can give to charity or do volunteer work. You can mentor someone starting out in your profession. You can treat everyone kindly and honestly. But you can't begin to give back unless you give yourself the same treatment. In order to do that, you must gamble, cheat, lie, and steal.

• Gamble. Gamble your best shot in life. Take a risk. Go after what you want and give it your all.

• Cheat. Cheat those who would have you be less than you are. The best way to cheat people who would pull you down is to gain success. Success is the best revenge.

• Lie. Lie in the arms of those you love, those who surround you and support you—family, friends, teammates, and colleagues. Treasure the people who treasure you.

• Steal. Steal every second of happiness you can, and then spread it around. There is nothing more precious.

  Just as a wave cannot exist for itself, but is ever a part of the heaving surface of the ocean, so must I never live my life for myself, but always in the experience which is going on around me. It is an uncomfortable doctrine which the true ethics whisper into my ear. You are happy, they say; therefore you are called upon to give.

  —Albert Schweitzer,
  humanitarian

I Dare You...

Ask questions of the people around you. Ask them about their problems and challenges; then come up with solutions according to the research you've done. Apply this to your business and personal lives, and see how much more valuable your service to others becomes.

Serve with all your heart and soul in all your actions for seven days straight. No matter how small the act, no matter how minute you think the impact might be on others, serve with all your heart for seven days. Then examine the difference not only in what others see around you, but in how you feel.

Only a life lived in the service to others is worth living.

—Albert Einstein,
scientist