LIFE LESSONS FROM THE MONK WHO SOLD HIS FERRARI

WHO WI LL CRY
WHEN YOU DI E?
R O B I N S H A R M A
JAICO PUBLISHING HOUSE
Ahmedabad Bangalore Bhopal Chennai
Delhi Hyderabad Kolkata Mumbai
WHO WILL CRY WHEN YOU DIE?
ISBN 81-7992-232-4
First Jaico Impression: 2003
Fifty-second Jaico Impression: 2009
Robin Sharma
Published in arrangement with
HarperCollinsPublishersLtd
Toronto, Canada
No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in
any form or by any means, electronic or
mechanical including photocopying, recording or by any
information storage and retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publishers.
Printed by
Rashmi Graphics
#3, Amrutwel CHS Ltd., C.S. #50/74
Ganesh Galli, Lalbaug, Mumbai-400 012
E-mail: tiwarijp@vsnl.net
Published by Jaico Publishing House
A-2, Jash Chambers, 7-A Sir Phirozshah Mehta Road
Fort, Mumbai - 400 001
jaicopub@jaicobooks.com
www.jaicobooks.com
Contents
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvii
1. Di scover Your Cal l i ng. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
2. Every Day, Be Ki nd to a Stranger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
3. Mai ntai n Your Perspecti ve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
4. Practi ce Tough Love . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
5. Keep a Journal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
6. Devel op an Honesty Phi l osophy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
7. Honor Your Past . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
8. Start Your Day Wel l . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
9. Learn to Say No Graceful l y . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
10. Take a Weekl y Sabbati cal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
11. Tal k to Yoursel f. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
12. Schedul e Worry Breaks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
13. Model a Chi l d . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
14. Remember, Geni us Is 99 Percent Inspi rati on . . . . . . 35
15. Care for the Templ e . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
16. Learn to Be Si l ent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
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17. Thi nk About Your Ideal Nei ghborhood. . . . . . . . . . . 42
18. Get Up Earl y . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
19. See Your Troubl es as Bl essi ngs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
20. Laugh More . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
21. Spend a Day Wi thout Your Watch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
22. Take More Ri sks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
23. Li ve a Li fe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
24. Learn from a Good Movi e. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
25. Bl ess Your Money . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
26. Focus on the Worthy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
27. Wri te Thank-You Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
28. Al ways Carry a Book wi th You . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
29. Create a Love Account . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
30. Get Behi nd Peopl es Eyebal l s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
31. Li st Your Probl ems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
32. Practi ce the Acti on Habi t. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
33. See Your Chi l dren as Gi fts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
34. Enjoy the Path, Not Just the Reward . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
35. Remember That Awareness Precedes Change . . . . . 84
36. Read Tuesdays With Morrie. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
37. Master Your Ti me . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
38. Keep Your Cool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
39. Recrui t a Board of Di rectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
40. Cure Your Monkey Mi nd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
41. Get Good at Aski ng . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
42. Look for the Hi gher Meani ng of Your Work . . . . . . 100
43. Bui l d a Li brary of Heroi c Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
44. Devel op Your Tal ents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
45. Connect wi th Nature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
46. Use Your Commute Ti me . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
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47. Go on a News Fast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
48. Get Seri ous About Setti ng Goal s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
49. Remember the Rul e of 21. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
50. Practi ce Forgi veness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
51. Dri nk Fresh Frui t Jui ce . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
52. Create a Pure Envi ronment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
53. Wal k i n the Woods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
54. Get a Coach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
55. Take a Mi ni -Vacati on . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
56. Become a Vol unteer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
57. Fi nd Your Si x Degrees of Separati on . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
58. Li sten to Musi c Dai l y . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
59. Wri te a Legacy Statement. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
60. Fi nd Three Great Fri ends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
61. Read The Artists Way . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
62. Learn to Medi tate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
63. Have a Li vi ng Funeral . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
64. Stop Compl ai ni ng and Start Li vi ng . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
65. Increase Your Val ue. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
66. Be a Better Parent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
67. Be Unorthodox . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
68. Carry a Goal Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
69. Be More than Your Moods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
70. Savor the Si mpl e Stuff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
71. Stop Condemni ng . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
72. See Your Day as Your Li fe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
73. Create a MasterMi nd Al l i ance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
74. Create a Dai l y Code of Conduct . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
75. Imagi ne a Ri cher Real i ty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
76. Become the CEO of Your Li fe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
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77. Be Humbl e. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
78. Dont Fi ni sh Every Book You Start . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
79. Dont Be So Hard on Yoursel f . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
80. Make a Vow of Si l ence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
81. Dont Pi ck Up the Phone Every Ti me It Ri ngs . . . . 182
82. Remember That Recreati on Must Invol ve
Re-creati on . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
83. Choose Worthy Opponents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
84. Sl eep Less . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
85. Have a Fami l y Meal ti me . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
86. Become an Imposter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
87. Take a Publ i c Speaki ng Course . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
88. Stop Thi nki ng Ti ny Thoughts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
89. Dont Worry About Thi ngs You Cant Change . . . . 199
90. Learn How to Wal k . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
91. Rewri te Your Li fe Story . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
92. Pl ant a Tree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
93. Fi nd Your Pl ace of Peace. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
94. Take More Pi ctures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
95. Be an Adventurer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
96. Decompress Before You Go Home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
97. Respect Your Insti ncts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
98. Col l ect Quotes That Inspi re You . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
99. Love Your Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
100. Sel essl y Serve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
101. Li ve Ful l y so You Can Di e Happy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
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Preface
I honor you for pi cki ng up thi s book. In doi ng so, you
have made the deci si on to l i ve more del i beratel y, more
joyful l y and compl etel y. You have deci ded to l i ve your
l i fe by choi ce rather than by chance, by desi gn rather
than by defaul t. And for thi s, I appl aud you.
Si nce wri ti ng the two previ ous books i n The Monk
Who Sold His Ferrari seri es, I have recei ved countl ess
l etters from readers who saw thei r l i ves change through
the wi sdom they di scovered. The comments of these
men and women i nspi red and moved me. Many of the
notes I recei ved al so encouraged me to di sti l l al l that I
have l earned about the art of l i vi ng i nto a seri es of l i fe
l essons. And so, I set about compi l i ng the best I have to
gi ve i nto a book that I trul y bel i eve wi l l hel p transform
your l i fe.
The words on the fol l owi ng pages are heartfel t and
wri tten i n the hi gh hope that you wi l l not onl y connect
xvi i
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wi th the wi sdom I respectful l y offer but act on i t to
create l asti ng i mprovements i n every l i fe area. Through
my own tri al s, I have found that i t i s not enough to know
what to do we must act on that knowl edge i n order to
have the l i ves we want.
And so as you turn the pages of thi s thi rd book i n The
Monk Who Sold His Ferrari seri es, I hope you wi l l
di scover a weal th of wi sdom that wi l l enri ch the qual i ty
of your professi onal , personal and spi ri tual l i fe. Pl ease do
wri te to me, send me an e-mai l or vi si t wi th me at one of
my semi nars to share how you have i ntegrated the
l essons i n thi s book i nto the way you l i ve. I wi l l do my
very best to respond to your l etters wi th a personal note.
I wi sh you deep peace, great prosperi ty and many happy
days spent engaged i n a worthy purpose.
Robi n S. Sharma
Tol l -Free Li ne for Readers: 1-888-RSH A RMA
e-mai l address: wi sdom@robi nsharma.com
Internet address: www.robi nsharma.com
R O BI N SH A R M A
xvi i i
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1.
Di scover Your Cal l i ng
When I was growi ng up, my father sai d somethi ng to me
I wi l l never forget, Son, when you were born, you cri ed
whi l e the worl d rejoi ced. Li ve your l i fe i n such a way that
when you di e the worl d cri es whi l e you rejoi ce. We l i ve
i n an age when we have forgotten what l i fe i s al l about.
We can easi l y put a person on the Moon, but we have
troubl e wal ki ng across the street to meet a new nei ghbor.
We can re a mi ssi l e across the worl d wi th pi npoi nt
accuracy, but we have troubl e keepi ng a date wi th our
chi l dren to go to the l i brary. We have e-mai l , fax
machi nes and di gi tal phones so that we can stay
connected and yet we l i ve i n a ti me where human bei ngs
have never been l ess connected. We have l ost touch wi th
our humani ty. We have l ost touch wi th our purpose. We
have l ost si ght of the thi ngs that matter the most.
And so, as you start thi s book, I respectful l y ask you,
Who wi l l cry when you di e? How many l i ves wi l l you
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touch whi l e you have the pri vi l ege to wal k thi s pl anet?
What i mpact wi l l your l i fe have on the generati ons that
fol l ow you? And what l egacy wi l l you l eave behi nd after
you have taken your l ast breath? One of the l essons I
have l earned i n my own l i fe i s that i f you dont act on
l i fe, l i fe has a habi t of acti ng on you. The days sl i p i nto
weeks, the weeks sl i p i nto months and the months sl i p
i nto years. Pretty soon i ts al l over and you are l eft wi th
nothi ng more than a heart l l ed wi th regret over a l i fe
hal f l i ved. George Bernard Shaw was asked on hi s
deathbed, What woul d you do i f you coul d l i ve your l i fe
over agai n? He reected, then repl i ed wi th a deep si gh:
I d l i ke to be the person I coul d have been but never
was. I ve wri tten thi s book so that thi s wi l l never
happen to you.
As a professi onal speaker, I spend much of my work l i fe
del i veri ng keynote addresses at conferences across North
Ameri ca, yi ng from ci ty to ci ty, shari ng my i nsi ghts on
l eadershi p i n busi ness and i n l i fe wi th many di fferent
peopl e. Though they al l come from di verse wal ks of l i fe,
thei r questi ons i nvari abl y center on the same thi ngs
these days: How can I nd greater meani ng i n my l i fe?
How can I make a l asti ng contri buti on through my work?
R O BI N SH A R M A
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and How can I si mpl i fy so that I can enjoy the journey of
l i fe before i t i s too l ate?
My answer al ways begi ns the same way: Fi nd your cal l -
i ng. I bel i eve we al l have speci al tal ents that are just wai t-
i ng to be engaged i n a worthy pursui t. We are al l here for
some uni que purpose, some nobl e objecti ve that wi l l
al l ow us to mani fest our hi ghest human potenti al whi l e
we, at the same ti me, add val ue to the l i ves around us.
Fi ndi ng your cal l i ng doesnt mean you must l eave the job
you now have. It si mpl y means you need to bri ng more of
yoursel f i nto your work and focus on the thi ngs you do
best. It means you have to stop wai ti ng for other peopl e
to make the changes you desi re and, as Mahatma Gandhi
noted: Be the change that you wi sh to see most i n your
worl d. And once you do, your l i fe wi l l change.
WH O WI L L C R Y WH E N Y O U D I E ?
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