Truth, Happiness, and Making it Great with Marbles
Truth is like the sun. You can shut it out for a time, but it’s not going to go away. ~ Elvis Presley
“When you’re ‘happy for no reason,’ you bring happiness to your everyday experiences rather than try to extract happiness from them. It’s not that your life always looks perfect - it’s that however it looks, you’ll still be happy!”
Marci Shimoff ~Author, NY Times bestseller “Happy For No Reason”
~ Kirk Out
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Special T4D Team Activity - No one need feel obligated or left out …. The traditional T4D is above and the above quotes are the traditional content for the “thought 4 the day” subscribers… What follows below and in some of the future T4Ds is a section dedicated to creating a shared experience of working together on “Making it Great” and better preparing ourselves to create written goals and a clearer pathway and plan for our futures.
Now for those who are joining together to “Make it Great” (see links at bottom for previous references) . You most likely have received your copy of 10 Ways to Make it Great or you will this week. The goal is too complete just 2 of the 22 action steps Phil has provided in the book. If you are like me you have already skimmed the book looking for the 2 easiest ones to complete! Guilty! In the end though I have decided though that for this week I will complete action steps one and two on pages 3 & 4.
To support Phil’s concise statement on page 2 “Begin at the End and work toward Today”… I have included the following true story of 1000 marbles. (See below) This link will take you directly to the authors website. http://ke9v.net/stories/1000marbles.html
I invite any who care to share your thoughts, feelings and discoveries as we continue this journey at the blog version of this e-mail www.kirkweisler.com/t4d I’m excited to join with you in Making it Great.
Links to Previous Posts on Making it Great Project
At this link www.kirkweisler.com/t4d look for these posts
great people create their lives
Knowledge not just Information
Develop a Greater Vision for your Life
http://kirkweisler.com/t4d/page/2/
Kirk Out
The 1000 Marbles 
The older I get, the more I enjoy Saturday mornings. Perhaps it’s the quiet solitude that comes with being the first to rise, or maybe it’s the unbounded joy of not having to be at work. Either way, the first few hours of a Saturday morning are most enjoyable. A few weeks ago, I was shuffling toward the kitchen with a steaming cup of coffee in one hand and the morning paper in the other. What began as a typical Saturday morning turned into one of those lessons that life seems to hand you from time to time. Let me tell you about it.
I turned the volume up on my radio in order to listen to a Saturday morning talk show. I heard an older sounding chap with a golden voice. You know the kind — he sounded like he should be in the broadcasting business himself. He was talking about “a thousand marbles” to someone named “Tom.” I was intrigued and sat down to listen to what he had to say.
“Well, Tom, it sure sounds like you’re busy with your job. I’m sure they pay you well but it’s a shame you have to be away from home and your family so much. Hard to believe a young fellow should have to work sixty or seventy hours a week to make ends meet. Too bad you missed your daughter’s dance recital.” He continued, “Let me tell you something, Tom, something that has helped me keep a good perspective on my own priorities.” And that’s when he began to explain his theory of a thousand marbles.
“You see, I sat down one day and did a little arithmetic. The average person lives about 75 years. I know, some live more and some live less; but on average, folks live about seventy-five years.
“Now then, I multiplied 75 times 52 and I came up with 3900 which is the number of Saturdays that the average person has in their entire lifetime. Now, stick with me Tom, I’m getting to the important part. “It took me until I was fifty-five years old to think about all this in any detail,” he went on, “and by that time I had lived through over 2700 Saturdays. I got to thinking that if I lived to be seventy-five, I only had about a thousand of them left to enjoy.
“So I went to a toy store and bought every single marble they had. I ended up having to visit three toy stores to round-up 1000 marbles. I took them home and put them inside of a large, clear plastic container right here in my workshop next to the radio. Every Saturday since then, I have taken one marble out and thrown it away. “I found that by watching the marbles diminish, I focused more on the really important things in life. There is nothing like watching your time here on this earth run out to help get your priorities straight.
“Now let me tell you one last thing before I sign-off with you and take my lovely wife out for breakfast. This morning, I took the very last marble out of the container. I figure if I make it until next Saturday, then God has blessed me with a little extra time to be with my loved ones.
“It was nice to talk to you, Tom. I hope you spend more time with your loved ones, and I hope to meet you again someday. Have a good morning!”
You could have heard a pin drop when he finished. Even the show’s moderator didn’t have anything to say for a few moments. I guess he gave us all a lot to think about. I had planned to do some work that morning, then go to the gym. Instead, I went upstairs and woke my wife up with a kiss. “C’mon honey, I’m taking you and the kids to breakfast.”
“What brought this on?” she asked with a smile.
“Oh, nothing special,” I said. “It has just been a long time since we
spent a Saturday together with the kids. Hey, can we stop at a toy store while we’re out? I need to buy some marbles.”
March 4th, 2009 at 10:43 am
Love the marble story. I try very hard to focus on my husband and child in spite of working full-time. I don’t want to be looking back at my life wishing I’d captured those tiny precious moments with my family, but too late to do so.
My father is the epitome of “Cat’s Cradle” by Harry Chapin. He’s turning 60 this year and my mother says he has so many regrets. A little late to realize how much you’ve lost in 60 years. I’m trying to prevent that from happening to my husband and I. We stop and smell the roses as much as we can. And we’re trying to teach our little boy the same thing. Life is too short.
March 4th, 2009 at 11:46 am
Thanks Kirk–great kickoff to the MIG group study. (I had the book already–a gift from you, which you so graciously made during your visit to WSU–many thanks again.) I have already passed the marbles link on to several people. As a visual person, seeing that jar of marbles was enlightening, especially when you only have 979 left, like me! And I’m going to buy some marbles too!
I think when my jar is empty (God willing) that I will start putting back a marble each week as a way of focusing on gratitude for another extra week, reflecting on whether or not I Made it Great! that week.
I jumped to chapter 9, “Recharge Your Batteries.” The two action steps are “Reflect” and “Rest.” I’m going to school, graduating in May, and then going on for a Masters. I find that I’m not getting the rest I really need. I figure that changing that one thing will give me that much more energy to focus on future action items.
Finally, the “reflect” item is something I rarely do. I’ve been taught many times how important meditation and reflection can be, but I get “too busy” to take time to reflect on my life and what is truly important. I tend to rush from one thing to another, feeding off the adrenaline. (Yeah, it’s related to the “rest” factor.)
The marbles story tied in perfectly for my “reflect” action item. The marbles but things into a wonderful perspective–lots to reflect on this week!
Thanks…and Make It Great!
March 5th, 2009 at 8:43 am
Hi, Kirk -
Wow, what a great article! My life feels like it is rushing past me and I’m running to barely keep up. Much of it I greatly enjoy. But it feels like it’s going so fast that it will be over all too soon. (Not that I don’t look forward to what the end of this life and the transition to the next will be like. I look forward to that very much.)
What an eye opener to see that at age 55 a person could reasonably expect to see 1,000 more Saturdays - That’s a lot of living left! And Saturdays, at that!
I’m copying my husband, David, on this. Especially timely as he turns 55 in May. He’s had some challenges the last few years and many days are not much fun for him because of chronic pain the medical people haven’t gotten to the bottom of. So I thought your posting might be an encouragement for him - and for us as a couple - to get 1,000 marbles, dream some dreams, and experience 1,000 more fabulous Saturdays together.
David, thanks for 695 terrific Saturdays so far. Thanks, Kirk - and you, too, Phil - for all you do to help the rest of us Make it Great! And if I could have found an e-mail for Jeff Davis, I’d have copied him, too!
Blessings to David, the best man I ever met - and to Kirk, Phil and Jeff - three very worth runners up!
Martha Lundgren