What I have learnt from Robin Sharma’s book “Who Will Cry When You Die?”

As we all know that nationwide lockdown is underway due to Covid19 outbreaks, which has become the biggest threat for the world & WHO has already declared this virus as pandemic.

Meanwhile, the time is very crucial for us, therefore we need social distancing for a few days or months to tackle it or to stop the virus from its community spreading & to destroy its chain of spread. This is the only cause for why we are living in lockdown to be safe & secure. Hope, you are all obeying this as well as all the instructions that the government is providing to us. It’s high time for us to take care of this world to save mankind; it’s our responsibility. So, stay home to stay safe.

Moving to the point, as lockdown begins I started reading one of my favourite author Robin Sharma’s book, “Who Will Cry When You Die?”, which I had purchased a couple of days back. The book itself gives some sort of excitement to read because the book was written by the author of the worldwide best seller, “The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari”, the book which is placed in my favourite reading lists.

The author provides 101 life lessons accordingly in 101 chapters & each chapter within two-three pages in the 225 pages of the book. The life lessons from “The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari” fame, are very important but I have put only 10 important lessons from the book, which have touched me a lot & I have gained a lot in my thought of understanding. I hope this will help you to inspire & stay motivated in this lockdown period by countering mental stress, anxiety & fear if you are facing these types of challenges. If not, then also this book helps you to enjoy your life’s journey in the way you are! So, let’s begin------

1.      What will help you to lead a successful & happy life ?

In the very beginning, the author starts its chapter, titled as “Discover Your Calling”, & the author firmly believes that we all have special talents that are just waiting to be engaged in a worthy pursuit. As the author concerns, we just need to live our every single day with all the optimism you can swatch. Instead of stewing in your own tears, let your goodwill toward others shine out. At the same time the author argued his readers to add value to the lives around us. It means, we need to focus on the things that we can do the best. The author ended the first chapter by motivating ourselves to live a joyful & happy life by giving the first important lesson. At the end of this chapter, he added MK GANDHI’s note, “ Be the change that you wish to see most in your world.”

2.     Develop honesty & learn to deal positively with failure-

The author also speaks that in this world of broken promises & the time where people treat their words lightly, the simple aim is to be true to our word, whether with ourselves or others. This means, we need to stick to our words & commitments. If we don’t then we lose our credibility & author put this remark that when we lose our credibility, automatically we break the bonds of trust. Ultimately it leads to an unhappy life. He also suggests learning to cope with failure & difficulties. That’s not as negative as it sounds; we need to find out how many small untruths that surround us & we tell over the course of exercise or as we feed to the habit of being untruthful. In this point, we should be a person of our own words, learn from our own mistakes without covering up & we always should be with ourselves, not with others!

3.     Sometimes Talk to yourself :

Life is not all about the same routine, ups & downs prevail in everyone’s life. Here the author believes that sometimes we should talk to ourselves, where you can’t lie to yourself & nobody knows better than you. This helps you to stay yourself with you. This technique develops you to find out all your strong & loose points & also the journey of your life in different time frames inspire you to move on. Because, all the experiences good or bad that you have experienced that you can recall & you will also come to know that obstacles or difficulties always can tackle to moving on!

4.     We should learn to be silent :

The author also talks about the importance of silence in our life. He said that we need to learn to be silent to reconnect with ourselves. It’s not the daily job for us to spread glories. We should also find time for ourselves for our busy schedule to keep calm & need to enjoy the power of solitude to restore, refocus & revitalize our mind, body & spirit. We must find the time to be silent on a regular basis instead of being quite busy glorifying ourselves all the days.

5.     See the troubles as blessings & list your problems:

The author vows that we have to encounter our pain as we have advanced along with the path of life. He also stated that we try to remind ourselves which helps to shape our character, but not with life's joyful moments, and we need to take lessons from life's toughest experiences. Troubles teach us, it gives experience to deal with toughest times in one’s life. Therefore, he wishes to see the troubles as blessings.

Again, in chapter 31, he gives a special tip to reduce the mental stress & anxiety when problems immerse us. As he said, “To let go of the mental clutter that your problems tend to generate, list all your worries on a piece of paper. If you do so, they will no longer be able to fester in your mind and drain your valuable energy. This simple exercise will also permit you to put your problems into perspective and tackle them in an orderly, well planned sequence.”

6.     Enjoy the path of Life, not just the rewards!

The author suggests we take a delight in our whole life. He stated that the real value of being happy & achieving goals of life does not lie to get rewards only, as a person we need to experience those moments that we have learned as a result of reaching goals. This simple distinction helps to enjoy the path of life, along with staying focused on what we want to be in real life. That is why, the author emphasizes to celebrate the process of reaching distinctions, the practice which has improved the person as we are.

7.     Do practice Forgiveness

It’s so common that we have issues with some people around us & many of us, take some of them as enemies for being so called, who have ‘wronged’ us.  But, the author puts different remarks; he believes, “Forgiving someone who has wronged you is actually a selfish act rather than a selfless one. Letting go of the hostility and hatred that you may have allowed to bottle up inside you is actually something you do for yourself rather than for the benefit of the other person.” The author said that when we take rage with anyone for longer than we also carry that person around us which puts our enthusiasm, energy & mental peace down. In my personal note, I do unfollow those ones on social media feed or stop taking any conversations & while I meet those in real, I just pass a smile & take some normal talks. In my view, don’t take any anger with anyone, just surprise them!!

8.     Make every single day as Your Life

Many of us think that to set a meaningful or successful life, it takes months & years. Here, the author has completely put opposite opinions. He vows to live & multiply the commitment you will bring to each of the days that will help to increase the passion that you have. As he said, “..The best life change decision you will ever make is the one to live every moment of your days to the fullest.”

9.     Need to be Humble & make vow for Silence

The author said that practicing humility shows that we respect others & reminds us that there is so much for us yet to learn. This brings us to set the privilege to learn around us.

Similarly, the author advocates about the strategy to keep silence as our discipline. Many times, many of us talk more than we need to. Here, he remarked that we should talk only what needs to be said. The idea makes us stronger & it does enhance the discipline being a person & opens all the opportunity to learn from around the world.

10.   The timeless secret of happy life

The timeless secret of being happy in life is to love your work. The author narrated that when we love what we do, we discover our self & the work will be the play for us & we can have fun in life. Moreover, it gives us the opportunity to stay happy & our mental stress, anxiety & troubles are gone so far. The simple pursuit of living a life is to be happy & that helps you to stay focused on your actual aim of life, rather falling down with unwanted tears & trouble.

To conclude, these are the ten most important life lessons , which are shared by Author Robin Sharma, in his book “Who Will Cry When You Die?”; from where one might learn to live life with meaning, happiness & joy !! Hope you have enjoyed reading this piece of writing! Now, the comment box is all yours & feel free to share your inputs or feedback!

In fine, to dear Tushar, applaud you for helping me out. Also, to the valued readers, thanks for your happy reading!