“Sir, I have been working for your company since last forty years and I have decided to take retirement and spend my remaining time to live the life that I love !” Once a Carpenter at the age of sixty dared to speak these words to his Wooden House making company owner.
The Carpenter standing at a threshold of his old age, thought of the retirement plan from the wooden house building company, for which he was working past forty years. He was skilled in his art of making wooden houses and the owner of company was happy with his work. Carpenter decided to talk about his retirement plan with owner. And he did it so.
Listening to the words of Carpenter, Owner went into deep thought. His mind would not agree upon the thought to let his all time favourite worker go away from his company. Reluctantly looking at Carpenter he said, “I wish you could stay with us ! But, I will not force you to stay. Before leaving could you do me a favour of building one last house with your skilled hands ?” Carpenter could not decline his request. “Yes Sir, it will be my honour to build last wooden house for my company.” The carpenter agreed and started developing house but his heart was not in his work.
He was in hurry to finish his work anyhow and go to live the life he loved with his dear ones. He used inferior materials for building house. It was an unfortunate way to end his career, but he would least bother it. When the Carpenter finished his work and the owner came to watch the house, owner handed the front-door key of the same house to the carpenter. “This is your house,” he said, “my gift to you for the loyal service you provided.”
What a shock! What a shame! If he had only known he was building his own house, he would have done it all so differently. Now he had to live in the home he had built none too well.
We are the same Carpenter, we build our lives in a distracted way, reacting rather than acting willingly to make it best. We use our skills for company, friends and social causes and fail to use it for self to make our life better. Most of the time we use cheap materials like laziness, bad health, fear of losing, living dull & useless life to build our own house of destiny.
We live our life by default and not by design. Living by design is to plan every single minute of our life that we waste in social media, watching television and many more things(who better than you knows it!) They are a tiny part in our life and we make them a whole life. We think a lot and rarely dare to do it, this is a disease of procrastination we are suffering with.
“Nobody plans to fail, but he fails to plan.
So plan your work and work your plan.”
Never blame on the circumstances or people around you for your condition in life. You are responsible for what you are. Only you can empower yourself, non else.
“Life is a do-it-yourself project.” How could you achieve different results with same repetitive actions(when you live by default) ?
William Ernest Henley says in his great poem ‘Invictus’ :
“I am the master of my fate,
I am the captain of my soul.”
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