The Number: A Completely Different Way to Think About the Rest of your Life

In Barnes and Noble yesterday I encountered the book "The Number: A Completely Different Way to Think About the Rest of Your Life" by Lee Eisenberg. The Number is the amount in people's minds that they can retire on. I hear guys on wall street say it all the time, $30 million and I can walk away. When I think of "the number" I think of it not as a goal but as a wall, not a wall that needs to be scaled, but a wall that needs to be torn down.

The "number" is a goal not a vision. It has an endpoint that give us comfort but also limits us. Unlike a goal, a vision is boundless. A number or goal is also usually selfish. It is about what I need, what I want, how I can live the rest of my life comfortably without a care in the world.

The Bible teaches us the opposite of carefree living, it teaches us that "those that cared for the least of those cared for me." The number limits our vision and is selfish in motivation. How much charity does our "number" have included in it? Whatever amount of charity it is probably not enough. I'm reminded of the ending scene in the Steven Spielberg movie "Schindler's List" where the main character Oskar Shindler realizes in the end even the little things he kept like his ring and his car were acts of selfishness when he could have saved more Jewish lives from the holocaust.

Bill and Linda Gates and Bono are examples of people who have visions not a "number". Neither of these individuals need to work another day in their lives. They have has many homes, yachts and islands to keep many generations happy, yet they press on. Why? Because if they once had a "number" they have long since surpassed it and discovered that there is more to life. I imagine attaining the "number" is like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz realizing that there is no Wizard but an old man behind a curtain. Is that all there is? What is next?

Instead of creating a "number" or a goal, I like to think of my life work as mile posts that show me from where I've come and remind me that I'm still on the road but that there is a lot more road out there for me to travel.


Note: This blog entry is in no way a recommendation to buy or not buy "The Number by Lee Eisenberg. The sole intent and purpose is to think about how goals hinder our spiritual vision.