Why Remembering You’re Going to Die Will Wake You Up

I lost it. Once again I was in the cemetery, reading the legacies of those who have left this experience. While wandering through a beautiful California morning, I found myself with a section where the children rested. From a few days to a few years, I read their tombstones of the legacies they could create in a short time: joy, passion, love and awe.

I was not there to visit anyone in particular, I was there to wake up. Remembering that we are all going to die is a beautiful way to create clarity and make committed decisions now. I never see this as something negative, I see it as an incredible opportunity to get into our greatness, instead of postponing it until the next month, year or decade.

In this publication, I will share 5 reasons why it is important to do what you want and create a life that you can not wait to wake up:

1. In the shortage of life

One of my favorite texts of all time comes from Seneca, a Stoic philosopher who lived 2,000 years ago. And yet, this essay brings us to a crucial point: we all have enough time, if we do it well. But often, we do not. We put our dreams on hold to seek the approval of others, we accept the “one day” mentality, and we end up living a life of repentance and what could have happened.

We waste our time with meaningless entertainment, gossip and care too much about what others think. We take the path that others have told us is for us, but deep down we know the truth: it is not.

So how can you use your mortality to make bold decisions and live the life to which you are called at this time? If you’re here, I know it’s not you.

“Often a very old man has no other proof of his long life than his age.” – Seneca

2. Remember your mortality

The first step to take advantage of the power of remembering that we do not have much time is simply to embrace our mortality. This simple change of consciousness is what 99% of people avoid: we know that our time here is limited, but we rarely think about it.

Usually, this happens until someone around us experiences a crisis or death and wakes us up. Most people live in the illusion that death is far away and that it probably will not happen to them. But it is not true. According to a United Nations investigation, around 6,500 people die every day in the United States alone. UU

Instead of fleeing our mortality, face it and use it as a lever to ask bold questions:

1. What do you want really?
2. Who do you live for?
3. Are you living the life for which you are destined?

As Steve Jobs said in his fascinating Stanford graduation speech in 2005: “Remembering that I will die soon is the most important tool I have found to help me make the best decisions in my life.” Remembering your time here is limited and you have a precious gift. Close your eyes, express gratitude and make sure you establish the intention to truly live.

3. Use the reverse display

One of my favorite techniques that I use in myself and countless clients or listeners of the podcast is simple: reverse visualization.

We have all heard about visualization for success, and it is a key practice to change our consciousness and gain clarity. But inverse visualization is used strategically to make bold decisions now by taking advantage of the possibility of repentance.

Because most people are slow to make decisions, they lose the opportunity cost of a life they can not imagine. They end up stuck in life and justify it by saying, “I’ll take care of it next year.” When life becomes a little less hectic, I’m totally involved. Someday I will launch my own business. ”

These are all lies designed for you and me to free ourselves from making a committed decision from a place of power.

Choose an area of ​​your life that is not working for you and ask a simple question: How does it feel to wake up in 18 or 36 months when nothing has changed except that your circumstances are much, much worse? Deepen that reality, and the domino effect it causes in every area of ​​your life.

“I would visualize things coming to me. It would just make me feel better. Visualization works if you work hard. That’s the thing. You can’t just visualize and go eat a sandwich.” – Jim Carrey

4. Spend time with older people

One of my favorite practices to remember my own mortality is having conversations with people of 70, 80 and 90 years. Without a doubt, they have the profound wisdom of experience and have changed my life countless times.

When I was 24 years old and on the way to becoming a financial agent, a 64-year-old man looked me in the eyes and told me to follow my heart. I could see and feel repentance in these eyes. He had spent his whole life chasing something he did not want.

Bronnie Ware was a caregiver for those with little or no time to live, and would have conversations about her greater repentance. She finally created a book and a platform from it, compiling the most common themes. Number one was: “I wish I had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.”

Then, ask yourself: are you on a path designed by others, or one of your choice? Regardless of the success you create, you will feel empty if it is not really yours.

5. It’s your time

Remembering that we are not here for a long time is a brilliant way to concentrate on what matters and release the noise. It’s about living a life on your terms, and not following a path simply because someone said you should. With this reminder in hand, it’s time to go out and make sure you’re living out loud, and never look back with regret.