Maxims that Have influenced Your Life
Discussion
I don't know why this particular topic has pulled me from my bed to this forum to post in an excruciating period of insomnia but here you have it.
Whilst growing up and perhaps onon, people have told me their pearls of wisdom, and in so doing have perhaps unwittingly imparted a mindset that would otherwise be unencumbered.
As a young lad my late dad would say " Spend a third, Invest a third and save a third". Truthfully I've never paid a jot to this although I have passed it on to my boys. It resonates and I think about it, but truthfully never followed the maxim.
Growing up, I was lucky and fortuitous that I lived in a comfortable neighbourhood, I had a car wash round at the age of 13/14yrs old and one of my customers had an Aston DBSV8, He founded a very well known outdoor clothing company and subsequently sold it for a handsome sum.
One day , whilst washing his Aston he said "Mike- you'll never make money working for somebody else"
The lovely guy, Peter, delivered on his principles and I couldn't have wished it to a nicer man.
My old friend Ted, who grew up post war and who is now 82yr old, told me recently that his mother said "Don't you ever kiss a girl and bring her home or you'll be in trouble"
Ted, bless him, recognises that it was of course a euphemism but nonethe less it stopped him cracking his virginity until he was late teens.
My ex, told me that I always aimed for the stars with a shilling in my pocket....Mmnnnn....is there a problem in that?
On my office wall I have pinned a quote from the film "Wolf on Wall Street" which to this day keeps me motivated "The Only Thing Standing Between You And Your Goal Is The Bulls*** Story You Keep Telling Yourself As To Why You Can’t Achieve It."
The father of a really good childhood friend once said "If ever you're in argument with a women- don't slam the door when you leave- always click it quietly with a "click" - they don't know how to handle (sic) that one; perhaps a little dark, but I do get it.
Over to you..
Whilst growing up and perhaps onon, people have told me their pearls of wisdom, and in so doing have perhaps unwittingly imparted a mindset that would otherwise be unencumbered.
As a young lad my late dad would say " Spend a third, Invest a third and save a third". Truthfully I've never paid a jot to this although I have passed it on to my boys. It resonates and I think about it, but truthfully never followed the maxim.
Growing up, I was lucky and fortuitous that I lived in a comfortable neighbourhood, I had a car wash round at the age of 13/14yrs old and one of my customers had an Aston DBSV8, He founded a very well known outdoor clothing company and subsequently sold it for a handsome sum.
One day , whilst washing his Aston he said "Mike- you'll never make money working for somebody else"
The lovely guy, Peter, delivered on his principles and I couldn't have wished it to a nicer man.
My old friend Ted, who grew up post war and who is now 82yr old, told me recently that his mother said "Don't you ever kiss a girl and bring her home or you'll be in trouble"
Ted, bless him, recognises that it was of course a euphemism but nonethe less it stopped him cracking his virginity until he was late teens.
My ex, told me that I always aimed for the stars with a shilling in my pocket....Mmnnnn....is there a problem in that?
On my office wall I have pinned a quote from the film "Wolf on Wall Street" which to this day keeps me motivated "The Only Thing Standing Between You And Your Goal Is The Bulls*** Story You Keep Telling Yourself As To Why You Can’t Achieve It."
The father of a really good childhood friend once said "If ever you're in argument with a women- don't slam the door when you leave- always click it quietly with a "click" - they don't know how to handle (sic) that one; perhaps a little dark, but I do get it.
Over to you..
I deduced this myself...
When I was younger I started a business working long hours doing contract assembly and I adopted an assembly line methodology. If there were 10 pieces to make then I could make 5 now and 5 later but if I make just one more now then there were 2 less to make later. E.g. make 6 now and 4 later.
When I was younger I started a business working long hours doing contract assembly and I adopted an assembly line methodology. If there were 10 pieces to make then I could make 5 now and 5 later but if I make just one more now then there were 2 less to make later. E.g. make 6 now and 4 later.
Trying to philosophise life into a pithy catchphrase is usually a waste of time….
Once that a good friend of mine gave me was this. He’d sold his business for 25m us. Was moving back from the Uk to the USA his homeland. So I asked him where are you going to live, you could buy a house anywhere, new York penthouse, la mansion, a ranch in Texas etc.. and he looked at me and said, “all I want is to wake up every morning and feel like I’m on holiday”
That struck a chord. He was buying a feeling, not a place. He ended up buying a nice but not crazy house in Colorado, in the mountains, not far from a food town, and close to the ski slopes. Sadly he died of a heart attack at 47 only 2 years later…
As life lessons go it’s a powerful one, it’s how you feel about your life right now, every day that matters. Not what you have or what you want to have that matters. And you never know how long you’ve got…
Once that a good friend of mine gave me was this. He’d sold his business for 25m us. Was moving back from the Uk to the USA his homeland. So I asked him where are you going to live, you could buy a house anywhere, new York penthouse, la mansion, a ranch in Texas etc.. and he looked at me and said, “all I want is to wake up every morning and feel like I’m on holiday”
That struck a chord. He was buying a feeling, not a place. He ended up buying a nice but not crazy house in Colorado, in the mountains, not far from a food town, and close to the ski slopes. Sadly he died of a heart attack at 47 only 2 years later…
As life lessons go it’s a powerful one, it’s how you feel about your life right now, every day that matters. Not what you have or what you want to have that matters. And you never know how long you’ve got…
My mum would drop the occasional maxim into conversations.
I’m not sure they meant a huge amount to me as a child but now and again they pop in to my head.
‘Neither a borrower nor a lender be’ was one.
And true enough, I can’t think of a single situation where I’ve lent something to someone and there hasn’t needed to be an awkwardness about getting the thing back.
Oddly, if I ever have something belonging to someone else, I can’t wait to give it back to them.
I’m not sure they meant a huge amount to me as a child but now and again they pop in to my head.
‘Neither a borrower nor a lender be’ was one.
And true enough, I can’t think of a single situation where I’ve lent something to someone and there hasn’t needed to be an awkwardness about getting the thing back.
Oddly, if I ever have something belonging to someone else, I can’t wait to give it back to them.
Only one has consistently stood out.
In the movie Under Siege, the baddies chase Steven Segal down and see him fall off the back of the train.
They report back to their baddie boss that Segal is dead. The baddie boss asks them if they saw the body, to which they reply, no, they saw him fall off, he is dead.
The baddie boss then flies off the handle and says something like, you saw nothing, assumption is the mother of all f
k ups. Was totally sage advice because Segal ended up taking them all out. LOL.
Whenever I’ve assumed anything, and its come back to bite me in the ass, I always remember that scene.
In the movie Under Siege, the baddies chase Steven Segal down and see him fall off the back of the train.
They report back to their baddie boss that Segal is dead. The baddie boss asks them if they saw the body, to which they reply, no, they saw him fall off, he is dead.
The baddie boss then flies off the handle and says something like, you saw nothing, assumption is the mother of all f
k ups. Was totally sage advice because Segal ended up taking them all out. LOL.Whenever I’ve assumed anything, and its come back to bite me in the ass, I always remember that scene.
Edited by wyson on Saturday 18th March 07:31
wyson said:
Only one has consistently stood out.
In the movie Under Siege, the baddies chase Steven Segal down and see him fall off the back of the train.
They report back to their baddie boss that Segal is dead. The baddie boss asks them if they saw the body, to which they reply, no, they saw him fall off, he is dead.
The baddie boss then flies off the handle and says something like, you saw nothing, assumption is the mother of all fk ups. Was totally sage advice because Segal ended up taking them all out. LOL.
Whenever I’ve assumed anything, and its come back to bite me in the ass, I always remember that scene.
Pretty clever falling off a train when the whole film is set on a US navy battleshipIn the movie Under Siege, the baddies chase Steven Segal down and see him fall off the back of the train.
They report back to their baddie boss that Segal is dead. The baddie boss asks them if they saw the body, to which they reply, no, they saw him fall off, he is dead.
The baddie boss then flies off the handle and says something like, you saw nothing, assumption is the mother of all f
k ups. Was totally sage advice because Segal ended up taking them all out. LOL.Whenever I’ve assumed anything, and its come back to bite me in the ass, I always remember that scene.
Edited by wyson on Saturday 18th March 07:31
Edited by sociopath on Saturday 18th March 07:48
“It’ll pass”.
Not very pithy but when it feels like everything is going to st it’s worth remembering it will pass.
A favourite phrase of one of the most chilled out octogenarians I know and someone who’s chilled out attitude I try to emulate, not always successfully, but I do take a deep breath and think of that phrase from time to time.
Not very pithy but when it feels like everything is going to s
t it’s worth remembering it will pass.A favourite phrase of one of the most chilled out octogenarians I know and someone who’s chilled out attitude I try to emulate, not always successfully, but I do take a deep breath and think of that phrase from time to time.
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