The 365 Commitment

Time Capsule

I am in Austin, TX today and as I was walking around Dell HQ, I saw a placard placed to commemorate a time capsule placed on that spot in 2000.

You can see the quote from Michael Dell. Interesting statement. This was after 15 years of amazing success and now it is almost 20 years after that. What a journey that Dell, the company has been through in those 35 years.

Amazing to think of all the PC manufacturers that emerged in the mid 80s the one that became the 90B industy behemoth was Dell. From selling computers out of a dorm room to being a modern day industry titan, we have to realize that the difference was the person. The greatness of an individual.

Of course it is also the tribe, the culture, the community as well. It might be a fun debate to determine which was the most influential, but I do not think it matters. The point is that dynamic people, the cultures and teams that they built can do amazing things.

I would be interested to know what was buried in that time capsule.

That reminds me of when I took my kids backpacking a few years ago. We buried a time capsule in a secret location that I had them memorize. We all decided to write a note to our future selves to be opened in 40 years from that time. I may never read it, but my kids’ kids will have the opportunity to uncover what their grandfather and their parents wrote on their trip 40 years prior. I remember writing that letter, sitting on a rock, by a mountain stream. Thinking of what to say. What is the thing you will say to your kids when they are your age at the same point many years later, with their own kids? That was a surprisingly difficult letter to write.

Which leads me to the concept I came away with today at Dell HQ. If you were to document what is going on in your life now and put it into a time capsule, what would it be? Would your answer be true, or would it be pretense? Something you wish was true, but in reality is not. What would be the think that was top of mind today that you had to put down in this letter to be read generations from today?

This question led me to realize this provocative thought. Am I leading the life that I want to live right now? If not, then what am I waiting for? The precious moments on this earth are but just a few – we should definitely make them count doing and being what we want to be.

Guy Reams (608)

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