Lesson Plan: Fill & Download for Free

I think the best part about Calvin&Hobbes is that there is a strip on almost every possible lesson one could learn in life. Many-a-times I'll randomly flip through it's pages and find one that I've seen before, but it speaks so much more to me now, than it ever did earlier.I quit my job to start my own company recently, and about a month or so ago we'd been going through a stage where things were not really going as planned. That along with being ill, made me come back home for a while. Whilst there, Janhavi Kothari and I were going through my Calvin & Hobbes book and happened across this one:There's a lesson here that all entrepreneurs who are just starting out need to understand. People will pay for what they want, not for what they need. This was not the first time I had heard this, but the impact of that statement never really hit home till this strip.Thanks, Sanket Patel for getting me to this question. Some really good strips here.

The obstacle is the way.In the summer after my first year of college, I put together all the money I had and bought a ticket to Norway. It was my second international trip.I had two goals for the summer:Goal #1: Make enough money to live and travelGoal #2: Get in the best physical shape of my lifeEvery day, I did manual labor and painted houses to earn money. I quit drinking, cooked every meal, and rode a bike everywhere to save money.Little by little, I built up a small book of business that allowed me to live in Norway and travel to Spain, Luxembourg, Denmark, and the Netherlands. Goal #1 accomplished.To get in the best physical shape of my life, I made a commitment to gaining 15 pounds of muscle, developed a rigorous training plan, and worked out every day.The only exception I made was when I painted ceilings. If you’ve never painted a ceiling, give it a try and you’ll understand why I made an exception.After gaining 8 pounds in my first month, I took a hiking trip to the West Coast of Norway to reward myself.About a half mile from the end of a 12 mile hike, I twisted my ankle. I tried to shake it off, but the pain only increased. I picked up a stick to support my weight.It was getting dark. I couldn’t stand anymore. A kind French couple carried me the last .25 miles.I didn’t have time to get to a doctor. I had to catch a flight within 24 hours for a visit to to the US Ambassador to Luxembourg.I limped around the Embassy for a few days hoping that I could walk it off.Turns out, that made things worse. I went to the hospital after not being able to walk in the airport. They put me on a diet of a wheelchair and crutches. I had torn cartilage that would limit my walking for 6–9 months.Upon hearing the news, I thought my fitness dream was over.But I kept a cheerful spirit, because adversity has always strengthened me.I quickly realized that using crutches is an amazing workout. Every day, I pushed myself to go further. I fought back hard against the voice in my head that wanted me to be depressed and stay in bed because walking was hard.And after gaining some confidence and courage, I took a trip to Copenhagen. I knew that venturing the city without being able to walk was going to be challenging.Over the course of 3 days, I crutched more than 15 miles.And at the end of that trip, I was stronger than ever.I was 15 pounds heavier than when I started the summer. Goal #2 accomplished.The obstacle is the way.For more helpful and practical tips on how to improve the quality of your life, check out my work: Calvin Rosser - Life Reimagined

Someone picked a fight with me once and it did not end well for him. Several decades ago, during a heavy rain I was driving West on Devonshire Street in the San Fernando Valley. There were two lanes each way to carry traffic and the intersections were flooded. I was young, stupid and driving fast so I overtook a Corvette who was travelling in the same direction. As soon as I passed him, he accelerated to match my speed. I guess he thought that a four door Toyota Corolla shouldn’t leave a Corvette behind.The Corvette followed me about 100 feet behind in the lane beside me. Everything was fine till we reached the first intersection and I hit the brakes just before I reached the standing water. My quick deceleration brought us about 10 feet apart when we hit the water, my Toyota threw a wall of solid water onto his Corvette. I didn’t plan this, after all I expected him to decelerate too.After we got through the intersection, we accelerated back up and he was 100 feet behind me again. At the next intersection, I hit the brakes just before the water like before. I was surprised to see that he didn’t learn from the first time and watched as he was covered in a tidal wave of water.He must have been angry and planned his revenge.This time he accelerated and got about 10 feet in front of me. I decided to give him line honors and slowed down. He slowed and maintained a 10 foot lead. Then I accelerated, but he also accelerated to maintain a 10 foot lead. As we approached the next flooded intersection, he maintained the lead, obviously planning to flood me. Honestly, I didn’t intended to flood him the first two times because I expected him to slow for the intersection like I did.At this intersection, I didn’t slow. I took my foot off the gas, coasting through the intersection at high speed and throwing a wall of water larger than any before.He tried to copy me from the first two intersections and hit the brakes just before reaching the water. He decelerated to about 10 feet behind and was covered by the huge wave from my car. I don’t know if he panicked and hit the brakes or if his big high performance tires hydroplaned on their own. I watched him spin out 180 degrees. He hit the opposite curb. I was certain that he wasn’t injured, but to this day, I don’t know if his Corvette was damaged by hitting the curb. This was long before cell phones existed so he had to walk in the rain to find a pay phone if he needed to call a tow.Honest, I wasn’t trying to fight with him, till he decided to fight with me. Lesson learned: wide, high performance tires will hydroplane before narrow, inexpensive ones.