If you’re still at a point in your life where you think that reading “just isn’t for you . . .” or you can’t seem to find interest in reading books, I hope that this article, along with these other ones that we’ve written, will give you just a little glimpse of how awesome books can be and just a taste of what you can gain from reading them.
Our most recent golden find of writing from our book club is one called Tuesdays With Morrie. Man! What an incredible and uplifting (and insightful) book this is!
What Makes Tuesdays with Morrie Different
This one is a little bit different than our traditional reads. Generally, the books that we read have a few, clear principles (usually about business/professionalism/success) that are easily broken down and discussed. Tuesdays With Morrie is almost more of a factual novel, and it revolves around a dying college professor. It’s a story about real people rather than a piece of writing about how to be successful.
That being said, it’s a little bit more difficult to break this one down into what exactly one should learn when reading it. I think that everyone who reads this book will probably get something a little bit different out of it, and that’s part of the beauty of this one! Depending on what your current life circumstances are, this story might hit you very differently than somebody in a completely different situation than you. It’s extremely powerful, and there is a lot to be learned from ol’ Morrie Schwartz (the man who inspired the book title).
Instead of breaking this down principle by principle like I usually do in these kinds of articles, I’m simply going to share some of the key things that I, and my team, learned from this story. Again, this is just what we pulled from this tale. If you take the time to read through this one, you might find something completely different that applies to you!
So cool!
Ok, let’s dive on in!
Overview: Mitch and His Mentor
Tuesdays With Morrie is a story about a man, Mitch Albom, and his old college professor, Morrie Schwartz. Mitch reconnects with Morrie after years of not seeing him and finds out that Morrie is dying from ALS. Over the course of several Tuesdays, Morrie shares his wisdom with Mitch, who writes it all down. The book is full of lessons that we can all learn from and apply to our lives.
Lessons from Tuesdays with Morrie
One of the main things that we can learn from Tuesdays With Morrie is how to live in the present. Morrie says, “The most important thing is to enjoy your life – to be happy – it’s all that matters.” Living in the present means appreciating the moment and being grateful for what we have. It’s not about dwelling on the past or worrying about the future. When we’re living in the present, we’re able to enjoy life more and appreciate the small moments that make up our lives.
This is one of the key ideas behind our Build Then Bless initiative as well! It’s the small, moment-to-moment interactions with other people that make up the entirety of our lives. If you find a way to truly immerse yourself in those moments and enjoy them to the fullest extent, you will forever be happy! Such a cool way to live your life.
Another lesson from Tuesdays With Morrie is that it’s important to be kind. Morrie says, “What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.” When we’re kind to others, we’re not just doing them a favor – we’re also doing ourselves a favor. Kindness makes the world a better place and it’s something that we should all strive for.
One of my favorite teachings from Morrie is that “we need to forgive ourselves. For all the things we didn’t do. All the things we should have done. You can’t get stuck on the regrets of what should have happened.” We have to be able to forgive ourselves. We have to be able to move on from things that we’ve done and look ahead to all of the great things that we will be able to do. Forgiving ourselves is oftentimes overlooked. It’s like we’re carrying a backpack full of rocks on purpose. You won’t be able to make much progress if you aren’t willing to forgive yourself and learn from your mistakes.
Finally, Tuesdays With Morrie teaches us that it’s never too late to learn. Morrie says, “In life, you need to know three things: who you are, where you are going, and why.” We can always be learning and growing no matter how old we are. There’s always something new to learn and experience. It’s important to stay open-minded and keep learning throughout our lives.
One of my greatest (secret, but not-so-secret) desires in life is to be the conductor of an orchestra or a symphony (still don’t know the difference between those). Usually when I get thinking about this, I’ll end up saying something like, “you’re an accountant. You went to business school, and you’re not going to go back to learn about music. You missed your shot at this, and it’s probably never going to happen.”
Now, most of the time I’m like half joking about this, but I honestly want to do it at some point in my life. So why can’t I learn what I need to learn in my spare time and make this dream a reality? What’s stopping me from doing that?? Absolutely nothing but myself! We’re never too old to learn something new and to accomplish something that we’ve been wanting to do forever.
Applying the Lessons
Applying the lessons from Tuesdays With Morrie can have a lot of benefits for us. When we’re living in the present, we’re less likely to be stressed out and more likely to enjoy life. Being kind makes us happier and also makes the people around us happier. Forgiving ourselves is key to being able to move on and keep learning in life. And finally, continuing to learn helps keep our minds active and prevents us from getting bored.
So if you’re looking for some inspiration, look no further than Tuesdays With Morrie. This amazing book is packed full of wisdom that we can all apply to our lives. After reading it, you’ll be sure to view the world in a whole new light.
You can get yourself a copy of that book right over here. Or send our awesome team a happy little note, and we’d love to send you a copy!