THE "PEANUTS" PHILOSOPHY by Charles Schultz

The following is the philosophy of Charles Schultz, the creator of the "Peanuts" comic strip.

You don't have to actually answer the questions. Just read this straight through and you'll get the point.

1. Name the five wealthiest people in the world.
2. Name the last five Heisman trophy winners.
3. Name the last five winners of the Miss America contest.
4. Name ten people who have won the Nobel or Pulitzer Prize.
5. Name the last half dozen Academy Award winner for best actor and actress.
6. Name the last decade's worth of World Series winners.

How did you do?

The point is, none of us remember the headliners of yesterday.
These are no second-rate achievers. They are the best in their fields.
But the applause dies. Awards tarnish. Achievements are forgotten.
Accolades and certificates are buried with their owners.

Here's another quiz. See how you do on this one:

1. List a few teachers who aided your journey through school..
2. Name three friends who have helped you through a difficult time.
3. Name five people who have taught you something worthwhile..
4. Think of a few people who have made you feel appreciated and special.
5. Think of five people you enjoy spending time with.
6. Name half a dozen heroes whose stories have inspired you.

Easier?

The lesson:

The people who make a difference in your life are not the ones with the most credentials, the most money, or the most awards.

They are the ones that care.

My beef with time management

Not long ago, I attended a time management workshop. We learned about the four quadrants, productivity tips, prioritizing--the usual.

In some ways, I feel these time management tips and tricks miss the point. They teach you how to do this and this and that and this... and to do it all as efficiently as possible. I think what we really need to learn is how not to do things.

We each have to decide what we want to do with our 24 hour days. And these decisions involve trade-offs. Spending more time at work means spending less time with other things (e.g. family, community, etc.). If we really want to spend more time with these other things, we would have to spend less time at work. And this might mean getting a lower income.

Rarely do I see people even consider this option. It's as if we're slaves where we have no choice but to spend 40 hours a week at work or more. The choice to work less than this may indeed have significant consequences (change of job/career, lower income, etc.) but it is still an option.

Our addiction to the high standard of living we enjoy is not without cost. There are environmental costs, monetary costs, and time costs. Breaking this addiction may be the first step towards lowering these costs--especially the time one. That's where I would start the discussion on time management.

The Small Stone

This story is from a poem by a famous Arab poet.

There once was a small stone that was part of a big dam, which secured a village from flooding. 

One day, the stone started to think of its role in life. 

It questioned whether it played an important role at all in the dam since it was surrounded by big rocks who were doing the bulk of the work.

After much thought, the stone came to the conclusion that it wasn’t an important part of the dam at all. 

So it jumped into the stream. 

In the place where it once sat, the small stone had left a tiny leak.  

It was a trickle at first.

Then slowly but surely, the trickle grew and more stones, first small ones and then larger ones were also washed into the stream.  

Until finally the dam collapsed and the village flooded.

All because of the small stone.

Kinetic and Potential Energy

Sheikh Mukhtar Maghraoui gives an analogy with kinetic and potential energy. I hope I can express it properly here.

We are constantly faced with choices. We can choose to do what we want, what our lower self (i.e. id or nafs) wants to do. These things are easy, and we generally feel good while doing them. Or, we can choose to do what's right, which often means fighting our lower selves. And this is the more difficult option.

It's like we are standing on the slope of a mountain. The easy way is to go down, and gain kinetic energy. This is what we do when we follow our lower selves. It's easy. It's fast. But, in the end, we end up much lower than we were when we started. And the more we choose this route, the lower we go and the more difficult it becomes to get up to the level we were at before.

The other choice is to go up. And give up kinetic energy in return for potential energy. It's difficult. It's a struggle. But, in the end, we end up higher than where we started. And we become stronger. We've gained potential energy.

The Leaky Bucket

My friend forwarded this to me in an email...

There was once a man who had two buckets, which he used to carry water from a well to his house. One of the buckets had a crack in it and the other didn't. Each day, the one with the crack would leak almost half its water along the way.

After some time, the imperfect container said to the man "I apologize for leaking half of your water every day". The man said "I knew that so I planted flower seeds along the way. It is the water that was leaking from you that has been supplying these flowers with water and helping them grow every day."

Humans from the Inside

My friend is a medical student. She was telling me about her surgery rotation. In the operating room she came to realize that on the inside, we’re all about the same. All of us have the same organs, bones, fluids… Seeing humans from the inside made her realize how truly shallow our society is. The appearances that we care so much about are such a minuscule part of what we are, physically. While on the inside, where it really counts, we are very much the same.

The Molecules in a Hurricane

About team work, from a lecture by Dr. Yaser:

Did you know that the individual molecules in a hurricane are moving at about the same speed as the molecules in perfectly still air? The kinetic molecular theory postulates that the average kinetic energy of gas particles depends only on the temperature of the system. So, since hurricanes are about the same temperature as the air around them, their molecules are moving at about the same average speed as the still air in the vicinity.

So what's the difference then?

In still air, these molecules are moving randomly so their net motion is zero. They cancel each other out. In a hurricane, the molecules move together in the same direction so they exert an enormous force on their surrounding environment.

Your Life or Your Money

If someone put a gun to your head and asked you to choose between keeping your life or keeping your money, you would surely keep your life and give away your money. But every day, millions of people go to work, to jobs that they hate. Thereby, in effect, giving up their lives in exchange for money. Every day.

Sometimes, less is more...

I recently discovered The Simple Living Network. As the name implies, it talks about living simply, including topics such as deciding when you have 'enough', frugality, the environment, etc. -- a whole bunch of things that really resonate with me.

In particular, I read one man's story that really impressed me. You can read the whole story in his own words, but I'll quickly summarize one aspect of it here.

Morally opposed to the war in Iraq, he abhorred the thought that his tax dollars would go towards fighting that war. So, in 2003, when it became clear that the US was going to go into war, he asked his company for a 75% pay cut, so he could be below the 'tax line' -- i.e. so that his income would become so low that he would not be obliged to pay taxes. His company could not grant him his request, citing how this would look suspicious in the books. So he quit. And since then, he has been self employed, doing some contract work, and writing books.

He discovered that he could be below the 'tax line' if he earned up to $30,000 a year and put $14,000 of that away in tax shelters (e.g. retirement, health savings accounts). This left him with $16,000 a year to live on--a far cry from his previous $100,000 salary at his former job.

The things he discovered through this drastic lifestyle change were insightful. For example, his lower income meant that he couldn't eat at restaurants as often as he used to. But he found that for the price of one fancy restaurant meal, he could make a whole week's worth of fancy meals at home. And since quitting his full time job, including its daily commute, he had the time and energy to buy the ingredients, learn the recipes, cook and enjoy these meals.

Although his choice to quit his job did not make him rich, it made his life so much richer.

The Waterskiing Principle

When talking about community development and big projects, Muhammad Alshareef has used this analogy to water-skiing.

When you start water-skiing, you float in the water in your life jacket and skis, holding on to the rope attached to the boat. At this point, most of the rope is beneath the surface of the water, you don’t see it. Then, the boat starts pulling the rope taut and you still don’t see it. But you know it’s getting pulled, although you still don’t feel it. And then suddenly you feel the pull of the rope and you’re pulled up on your skis (or in my case you fly in the air and fall on your face in a big splash).

Often, when you’re doing community work, you won’t see the results right away. You keep working and working and nothing seems to be happening. It’s like the boat that’s pulling the rope under the water. Nothing seems to be happening. But underneath the surface, the rope is being pulled and it’s just a matter of time before it gets pulled taut and you’ll be pulled up on your skis (and hopefully not fall on your face in a big splash).

It's all good...

I heard this story in class once...

There was once an African king who had an adviser. The adviser was well known for his positive attitude. His favourite phrase was "It's all good..."

The king and his adviser were best friends. They were out hunting one day when the king's gun malfunctioned and there was a huge explosion.

"My adviser friend! I lost my thumb!" The king exclaimed, as blood gushed from his hand.

"It's all good..." the adviser replied, helping the king.

"How can you say that?! I just lost my thumb. You're so insensitive! I'm still your king, you know! If you weren't my best friend I would kill you! I sentence you to jail!"

The king sentenced his adviser to jail.

A year later, the king decided he would go hunting again. Alone. When he was in the jungle, he was ambushed and captured by cannibals. They took him to their village and prepared to sacrifice him. Before they could sacrifice him, they needed the priests to bless the sacrifice. When the priests inspected him, they were shocked to find that he was missing a thumb. This was a bad omen for them. The priests told the cannibals that their sacrifice was unsuitable so they released him.

The king was immensely relieved. And then he thought of his adviser friend and was overcome by guilt. He went directly to the dungeons himself, told his friend about the incident with the cannibals and released his friend from jail.

"I'm so sorry, dear friend," he said to his adviser.

"It's all good..." his friend replied.

"How can you say it's all good, you just lost a year of your life in jail because of me!" the king insisted.

"It's all good," the adviser replied "If I hadn't been in jail, they would have eaten me!"