7 Must-Read Life Lessons from
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein has long been considered a genius by the masses.
He was a theoretical physicist, philosopher, author, and is perhaps the most
influential scientist to ever live.
Einstein received the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics “for his
services to Theoretical Physics, and especially for his discovery of the law of
the photoelectric effect.”
1. Be Authentic
“Why is it that nobody understands me, yet
everybody likes me?”
This past summer I was looking for a particular
pair of Gucci sunglasses, but every authorized dealer that I called or
visited in the area was sold out. So I began to search on-line, and I
found the sunglasses that I wanted for 50
percent off! Which of course raised my suspicion. …Are
these glasses authentic?
The reviews from those who had purchased this item said that
they looked “exactly” like the Gucci sunglasses in the store,
but the purchasers couldn’t be certain that they were real because they
didn’t come from an authorized Gucci retailer. And so I decided not to
purchase the sunglasses on-line, because I couldn’t be sure of their
authenticity.
There is something about authenticity that demands respect. I
believe that’s what Einstein meant in the quote above; people may not
understand you, but if you’re authentic, like he was, they will respect
you.
I eventually found and purchased the authentic Gucci
glasses that I was looking for, and I’m glad I held out for the
real ones.
2. Keep it Simple, But Not Too
Simple
“Everything must be made as simple as
possible. But not simpler.”
I’m a big fan of the “KISS Principle:” Keep It Simple
Sweetheart. There is a dignity associated with simplicity. But your
life shouldn’t be so simple that you’re not accomplishing anything, so
simple that you’re not working towards anything, so simple that you’re not
achieving anything. You want things to be as simple as possible, as Einstein
said, but not any simpler, because Einstein also said, “If a cluttered
desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, of what then, is an empty desk a
sign?”
You should always be working towards one or two goals
that stretch you, always!
3. Acquire Wisdom
“Wisdom is not a product of schooling but
of the lifelong attempt to acquire it.”
I like to say that readers are leaders! Wise
people spend a lifetime discovering what others have discovered,
they spend a lifetime connecting dots. I’m always amazed that you can
buy a book for $9.99, and learn virtually everything important that
someone else has spent a lifetime learning.
Einstein said, “A hundred times a day I remind myself that my
inner and outer lives are based on the labors of other people, living and
dead, and that I must exert myself in order to give in the same measure as I
have received and am still receiving.”
4. Live a Creative Life
“The monotony of a quiet life stimulates
the creative mind.”
When you’re constantly running to and fro, your mind doesn’t
have an opportunity to be creative.
I get my most creative and relevant ideas
when I’m still and quiet, such as when I’m in the shower, or
just relaxing.
To have a creative life, your life has to slow down
enough for you to be able to water your mind with
knowledge, when you do this, your mind will have the ability to sprout
creative ideas. You can’t sprout in a drought.
5. Pay the Price to
Succeed
“If there is no price to be paid, it is
also not of value.”
To be the best, you have to do what others are unwilling to do.
Not what others are incapable of doing, but what others are simply too
lazy to do. You have to pay a price; a price that others are
unwilling to pay.
The price you pay is in direct proportion to the rewards that
you reap. Don’t waste time looking for the short cut, take the long way, and
enjoy the journey.
6. Do What You Love
“Nothing truly valuable arises from
ambition or from a mere sense of duty; it stems rather from love and devotion
towards men and towards objective things.”
Einstein said, “Everything that is really great and
inspiring is created by the individual who can labor in freedom.” Great
work comes from doing what you love, doing what you’re passionate about.
Passion births a vision of what might be. When you follow that vision, with no
agenda, without profit on your mind, you’re free to be creative and to create
what has not yet been created before.
7. Stay Curious
“The important thing is to not stop
questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.”
They say that curiosity killed the cat! But we must always
remember that it was satisfaction…that brought him back.
We must never stop questioning, never stop learning. I try to
read at least one book a week, whenever I feel my desire to read
waning, I know my curiosity to learn is waning. I know that I’m beginning to
believe that I know too much, I’m becoming arrogant, and I have to remind
myself that there is so much I don’t know. So never stop questioning,
never stop learning, and never stop reading!
“Everything is determined, the
beginning as well as the end, by forces over which we have no control. It is
determined for the insect, as well as for the star. Human beings,
vegetables, or cosmic dust, we all dance to a mysterious tune, intoned in the
distance by an invisible piper.” – Albert Einstein
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