John P. Strelecky, author of The Big 5 For Life (a great book about leadership, by the way), tells how he met Thomas Derale:
He was waiting for an early morning train, and he and Thomas were the only people on the platform. Thomas broke the silence with “Is this a good museum day morning?”. John Strelecky just replied something non-commital like “ummm… sure.”.
But the question kept bugging him for the rest of that week. And when he met Thomas again a week later, he asked him what he meant. And Thomas explained his museum day theory:
“The average life span of a person in the United States is around 75 years or 28, 200 days. Some people live longer, others not as long. While visiting a museum one day, I noticed the history of the town through the pictures of the people, with stories of what they had done, and the important events in their history.
“That’s when I thought – ‘What if every day of our life was cataloged? The way we felt, the people we saw, how we spent our time. And at the end of our life a museum was built. It was built to show exactly how we lived our life.’
“So if you spent most of your life at a job you hated, it would show that. If you spent most of your time unhappy, there would be pictures and quotes and little video moments where people could pick scenes of different unhappy moments. Of course if you were friendly, or angry most of the time, your scenes would reflect those moments. Your legacy and how people viewed it would all depend on how you lived day to day.”
Imagine being a tour guide in your museum, taking people around to listen to the audio, view the videos and see the pictures that captured how you lived. How would you feel about how you are being remembered?
The little everyday moments add up. Before you know it, you’ve spent 10 years mostly angry/curious/excited, whichever is your habitual pattern of thought.
So, are your habits leading you to interesting museum days? Will tomorrow be a good museum day morning?
That’s only up to you to decide.
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Update about my blog:
Yea, I know I promised to post at least once a week. Unfortunately, I came down with infectious mononucleosis (an eeevil virus). It’s also leaving me a bit weak over the next month, so I won’t get a chance to try switching to polyphasic sleep.
Oh well. Maybe next year.
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I’m sorry to hear that you’ve got glandular fever (as we call it in UK). I agree it’s a very nasty virus. Please make sure you look after yourself and get well soon!
I had glandular fever at your age. I missed a month of lectures, and then I worked myself into a relapse trying to catch up. Of course you’ve probably got far more sense than I had, but take it easy, OK?
@Fairyhedgehog, Sheila:
Thanks, guys! I’ll take care of myself.
By the way, I kinda prefer the name “infectious mononucleosis”. It sound more EVIL
Damn, Vlad, good luck recovering! And the museum story is cool
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¡¡Get better Vlad!!
There is film Defending Your Life with same idea. Too many people see him, too little people get message.
Get better Vlad.
Get well soon Vlad. I know someone who had glandular fever and it’s important not to try and do too much at once. Rest is important. Good food. No stress.
@Ben, @Cruz, @Dalibor, @Josh:
Thanks, guys!
With so many people wishing I get better, how could I NOT get better :p. (Well, I could, with some effort…)
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