Turkish Proverbs about The Joy of Not Working

Here is an e-mail that I recently received about The World's Second Best Retirement Book from someone in California who apparently is not having any fun at work :

----- Original Message -----
From: Tom Scott
To: vip-books (at) telus (dot) net
Sent: Sunday, December 14, 2008 2:59 PM
Subject: Re: The Joy of Not Working .

Hello Ernie,

I just picked up your book The Joy of Not Working this weekend. The title sort of grabbed me. I have been out of work since April and (so far) have found very little joy in it. Then I came to page 50 and fig 4.2 with the two boxes of before and after for a workaholic. It was me. My marriage had been bad for years and finally ended earlier this year. In effect I had already crossed off one item in my box a long time ago. Then my employer decided to help me cross off the other one. No wonder I felt lost, desperate, alone, and with no idea where to turn. The only two things that mattered to me were gone. From that I went through one compulsion after another. First women (the serial dater), exercise, you name it. None made me happy. Now I realize it’s not about finding a passion, it’s about finding all of them. I am going to get to work right now filling up my box.

Thanks for steering me in the right direction. I’ll take it from here.

Tom

Sonoma, CA

And here are three Turkish Proverbs that I used in my speech about The Joy of Not Working to the Turkish National Society for Quality in Istanbul on November 26th.

1. All work and no play will make such a dull boy.
   — Turkish proverb
2. If God closes one door, He opens a thousand others.
   — Turkish proverb
3. There is no right way to do a wrong thing.
   — Turkish Proverb
   

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