What are the most important lessons that you learnt in your life?

Several years ago, one of my first business mentors, Joe Polish mentioned that as entrepreneurs, we will sacrifice our health for our wealth. Until we lose our health. At which point, we will gladly sacrifice all of our wealth to regain our health.

I had built up a carpet cleaning business over an eleven year period and was enjoying a very lucrative low six figure income. But I was working very hard. Burning the candle at both ends. Eating poorly.

My last year in business I felt run down and tired. I had no energy or ambition. The fun had gone. After cleaning carpets for over twenty years, I had aches and pains all over my body. I was sore, tired, and just not feeling well.

When the doctor diagnosed me with diabetes, I had just finished an appointment. On the way to his office I had stopped at a local gas station, bought a bottle of coke, a choclate chip cookie and a rice crispie square. Breakfast of champions you might say.

But that was normal fare. That and McDonalds, Burger King, or any other fast, convenient source of non-nutritional calorie intake. The run and gun lifestyle has finally caught up with me. I had a choice to make.

So I walked away from self-employment. Got a real job. Took a drastic, no make that a humongous pay cut, and dropped my lifestyle (no more sushi lunches) drastically.

That brings me to another valuable lesson.

Having a real job again was an eye opener. Here I was, an entrepreneur, (an eagle) scratching in the dirt with chickens (people with an employee mindset). My co-workers focused on their MDR. MDR being the Minimum Daily Requirement that gets you paid without being fired.

Now I don't regret the decision to close my business down. I took this job for the intensive technical training and skills I would develop. The learning curve was somewhat vertical at times, but it was worth it. But it came at a cost even greater than the huge paycut and lifestyle change.

It happened gradually. A slow evolution or maybe de-evolution of an entrepreneur to an employee. I thought like my co-workers, acted like them, and dressed like them. I had become one of the chickens. The problem was I kept looking back up to the sky, wanting to soar again.

That lead me to one more valuable lesson I will share.

So the lesson here is to guard yourself with who you associate with. Better to become an eagle than a chicken.

Last month, my seven year old, healthy, strong, atheletic silly blue dog, Mitzie came up lame. I knew it was a problem that could not be ignored. It appeared that she had injured her leg, and it was hurting her.

A trip to vet delivered the very worst possible news a pet owner can receive. You see Mitzie did not injure her leg. She developed Osteo Sarcoma. A very nasty, extremely aggressive bone cancer.

X-rays showed that the leg was too far gone for saving. It needed to be amputated. Not to save her life, but for pain management. Bone cancer is very painful. She was a walking fracture waiting to happen. A fracture that would not heal.

Now this was not a hard decision for me to make. But my concern was for Mitzie. How would she adapt. She is a border collie cross, highly active and lives to play. Can she still play on three legs? Will she ever do her frisbee jumps again? Where she literally will do a backflip while she catches her frisbee.

Regardless the post operative effects of surgery, I scheduled the amputation. But I recorded her last four legged frisbee chase the morning of her surgery.

It is now three weeks to the day now since her surgery. Mitzie came through with flying colors. The biopsy was also encouraging as there is currently no evidence of the cancer spreading beyond her leg.

The staples have been removed. The big lone ugly incision that made her look like Franken-Pooch is healing nicely. The hair is growing back.

And does she care that she is a three legged dog? Not at all. She runs better than she walks. And she is dropping her favorite toy on my lap to throw for her. That is her whole focus. And anyone who has seen a border collie eye ( the focused stare of a border collie) you know how focused she is. She doesn't care that the vet gave her 8-9 months to live after the surgery. Or that the experts said 4-5 months. She doesn't care that she has only three legs now. Her only concern is whether I throw the stuffed toy across the room so she can chase it.

Talk about being focused on what is important now. She is truly living in the moment. A true inspiration for me.

So there you go, three of the most important lessons I have learned in life.

1. Don't Sacrifice your health for wealth.
2. You can't soar with eagles while scratching with chickens.
3. Live in the moment and focus on what is most important now, regardless of your adversity.

I truly pray you can apply these lessons in your own life.