Turning Old Clichs into New Maxims:
Conclusion
By Richard Eyre

Note: This column appears every two weeks . with an old clich replaced by a new maxim each time.  Click here to read the full introductory column. Click here to go to the Clich archives.

As I look back over these last twenty-six new columns and the twenty-six new maxims we have created, it occurs to me that they all relate in some way to prioritizing and balance. They also seem to embody the following four principles:

  • Honor relationships over achievements
  • Select quality over quantity
  • Value “choose-to-dos” over “have-to-dos”
  • Believe in spontaneity as much as structure

It’s not that achievements, quantity, have-to-dos and structure are unimportant. It’s just that they get too much attention in our competitive, list-oriented, materialistic world. Each of the new maxims, in its own way, says something about balancing life by moving quality, spontaneity, relationships, and choose-to-dos up into parity and perhaps ahead of their counterparts.

May we internalize these principles. May we exercise and implement the new maxims. May we enjoy life more and live it more fully.



-Richard Eyre

2006 Meridian Magazine.  All Rights Reserved.

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Richard Eyre
A former Mission President in London and candidate for Utah governor, Richard was the director of the White House Conference on Parents and Children for President Reagan. He served on the President's advisory panel for secondary and higher education. A graduate of the Harvard Business School, he headed a management consulting company for 20 years before giving it up to meet the growing demands of his writing and speaking schedule. Richard and his wife Linda are parents of nine children and authors of a dozen bestselling family and parenting books. They are now focusing on the phase they are entering: Empty Nest Parenting. Through their web sites valuesparenting.com and familynightlessons.com, their frequent national media appearances and theirspeaking and lecture tours (see https://www.theeyres.com/), they continue to work at their mission statement which is, "FORTIFY FAMILIES, popularize parenting, bolster balance, and validate values."
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