Wealth of Experiences
By Tana M. Mann Easton, Lead Efficiency Engineer
In a recent interview, Ed Mylett spoke with successful entrepreneur Jesse Itzler. During their discussion Jesse relayed the story of being in a meeting with one of his advisors, and the advisor asked him, “If you could leave one of two things to your kids, all this money or a wealth of experiences, what would you rather leave?” And Jesse answered, “Of course I want to leave the experiences.” He claims that this focus on experiences now defines the current chapter of his life. The more you experience, the more you have to offer. As we get older, creating newness is hard. Intentional planning is required to make these experiences that are outside of our routines happen. Jesse has adopted what he calls Kevin’s rule (Kevin is a police officer friend of his), to make sure his experiences occur. Kevin’s rule is to take a one-day trip that he wouldn’t normally have done every other month on a weekend – could be fishing, checking out a museum, the sky’s the limit. The experience has nothing to do with money and could be as simple as hiking a new park, eating a new food, or meeting a new person. The point is to step out of our routines and create new experiences.
The holiday season is one of my favorite times to stockpile my wealth of experiences with my family because it’s a time of year from my own childhood that I remember so many of my own precious experiences. Baking cookies with my mom, helping to decorate the house, driving around town to see the lights, singing carols around the community, and sledding down snow covered hills are all part of my wealth of experiences that I wish to pass along to my child. I try to travel to one new state and one new country each year. The more I step out of my routine and build my own wealth of experiences and those of my family, it does seem that we are more open minded and well rounded. Jesse is right, these deviations from our normal days take planning, but I’ve always found the effort to be worthwhile.
If you desire a wealth of experiences in your and your loved ones’ lives, is there a cadence commitment that you can set? Do you want to adopt Kevin’s rule and do one new thing every other month? More often? Less often? Life can fly by in a blur if we don’t stop to step out of our routines from time to time. It’s never too early to make that plan to build your wealth of experiences.
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Sincerely Yours,
Focus to Evolve Team