Many people say life is short. Compared to what? A dog lives, on average, a life that’s 7 times shorter. A fruit fly lives for a day.

Rather, life is limited. I’m writing because I realized something about that. Life is like a limited canvas in which you have the opportunity to create a masterpiece. What is your life about? It will be about whatever you choose to do during your life.

All those times we are complaining about how things are not the way we want them to be, how life is too short, etc. are times almost totally wasted. I used to say that worrying doesn’t ever help. But now I am going to say something deeper. You have a limited life, and there is a sublime beauty in that. You have limited resources, and it’s up to you to make something of it all. How do you go about it is up to you - it is your life.

Also a note about stress and multitasking. People say the years start flying by faster as you get older. I wouldn’t know for sure, of course, but I suspect that the rate at which time flies by has to do with memory and awareness. If you are constantly stressed out, multitasking, and feeling like you aren’t accomplishing very much, then life starts go by much more quickly. I know, because the last 4-5 years have gone by and I haven’t really traveled anywhere much, haven’t really “lived” all that much, while people around me, younger than me, have experienced so many adventures. If we focus on our health, our memory, our awareness of life, we may be better equipped to savor it. If we can accomplish things, and take our time to take it all in as we’re living our life, we may find much more fulfillment and satisfaction.

One more note about strengths and weaknesses. This post grew out of talking to my mother. She has accomplished quite a lot, and is ahead of others in many ways — for example, she finished a Ph. D in music in Russia, she has over 10 years of experience as a music teacher in public schools, she studied biology and physical therapy, and holds advanced degrees in education. But she took a couple real estate courses and is now filling up all her free time getting involved with properties she bought in Saratoga county. Meanwhile, she is not devoting a lot of time to utilizing her strengths. I look back on how I spent my own time, and I see a lot of time-wasting too, although to a lesser extent. So I want to make the following observation:

In those things that can really use our strengths, we can accomplish many things comfortably and effectively. Those are our resources — our education, our experience, our skills, the people we know, and so on. And they say the rich get richer . . . you have so much power in these areas, you can generate momentum much more easily, and later channel it to spill over into other areas.

Instead, we sometimes begin spending our time trying to start from scratch in an area we don’t have experience in, which we are still weak in. It could be fun if it’s just a hobby. But trying to make it in this area, without using any of your resources from the areas you are strong in, is almost always a waste of time in this limited life. It is frustrating. You wind up multitasking and stressed out. Your life begins to pass by more quickly and you don’t take it all in.

However, if you could build yourself up to success in the areas you’re good at, and then use your new resources to generate momentum in other areas, you will accomplish more and on the whole, you will be respected more too.

The big reason for this is that you have very few resources when you start out in a new area. Mark Twain said, “We are all stupid, just on different subjects.” If we learn effective ways of converting our resources (time, money, personality, skills, strengths, connections, etc.) into what we want, we’ll accomplish much more. When you are strong on something, and you play to your considerable strengths, you don’t have to worry about fixing all your weaknesses. But when you start out in a new field, you have to work on eliminating a huge number of weaknesses and naivete before you can get consistently good results. Because you have no overriding strengths to help you get away with your mistakes. For example, Paris Hilton recorded a CD. One thing is clear: use the resources you’ve got, and the ones you can convert more easily. Use your aces to get more aces. With these, you can later obtain 5’s or 6’s of another suit. Or something like that.

So sit down, write down a list of all your major resources, the ones that you have impressive amounts of. Then make a list of all the things you can accomplish with them. Some things you have never thought about accomplishing, and some you’ve been putting of. Perhaps it’s worth it to build a name for yourself. Maybe you can accomplish several of these, and then sit down and write your list anew. Have something to show others. Then you’ll have something to bring to the table when you’re venturing out into areas you need a lot of work in.

Good luck.