Last week’s post told how our morning walking buddies, Barbara and Thurman Schweitzer, provided the inspiration for 2025 New Year’s Resolutions for me and for The Blum Firm. I shared how creating a mental “vision board” can help actualize your dreams.
In addition to last week’s wisdom from The Answer, the Schweitzers had another powerful recommendation: The Wealth Money Can’t Buy, by Robin Sharma. The title instantly resonated with my quest to promote the “heart” side of estate planning, along with the “head” side. It reminds me of my mentor James Hughes’ book Family Wealth: Keeping it in the Family. Hughes opens by saying that when he uses the word “it” in the title, he doesn’t mean money. Per Hughes, financial capital is only one of five capitals, outnumbered by human, social, intellectual, and spiritual capitals.
Similarly, in Sharma’s list, “Money is only one of eight forms of wealth, overshadowed by Growth, Wellness, Family, Craft (or your Work), Community, Adventure, and Service.” In my goal to inspire The Blum Firm, I chose to focus on Sharma’s first source of wealth: Growth. My goal was to inspire each member of our team to strive for personal growth.
In explaining Sharma’s book, Barbara taught me that “humans are happiest and genuinely wealthiest when we are steadily realizing our personal gifts and primal talents. The regular pursuit of personal growth is one of your most valuable assets.”
Sharma’s book offers a treasure of tips to achieve personal growth. I selected these few to share with my team:
- “The most important investment you can make is in yourself,” by my hero Warren Buffett.
- “Small, daily, seemingly insignificant improvements, when done consistently over time, lead to stunning results.”
- “All change is hard at first, messy in the middle, and gorgeous at the end.” [That one really strikes a chord, as many of us are naturally resistant to change (what we call the “C” word at The Blum Firm).]
- “The way to start, is to start.” Just start and do so now.
When each of us embarks on a journey to achieve our full potential, imagine the outcome of the collective effort. The sky is the limit. Let’s reach for the stars.
This isn’t to say there won’t be meteors to dodge on our rocket ship ride to the heavens. My kids are fortunate graduates of Fort Worth’s Trinity Valley School, where the motto is, “Per Aspera, Ad Astra,” – “Through difficulty, to the stars.” By making the most of our gifts and talents, we empower ourselves to overcome obstacles and keep reaching for the stars. Here’s to the exciting personal growth journey ahead and all the possibilities it offers!
Marvin and Laurie Blum’s morning walks with Thurman and Barbara Schweitzer are a meaningful source of inspiration.