Accepting Death and the Impossibility of Forgetting
You’ll have to face it, one day you will die and there is nothing you can do about it. What’s more, there is nothing you can take with you. Sure, you might request that your body be interred with some personal things but you’re not exactly going to use those things now are you. It’s more or less symbolic and comforting.You get a nice headstone with your name on it so people can remember who lies there.
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Every second death comes closer -tick tick tick- don’t think to much about that or you’ll become terrified of it sooner or later. Look at a clock for a few seconds and you’ll soon see what I mean. Those seconds you just spent can never be reclaimed. You just wasted precious seconds staring at a clock while there are so many things you can do and perhaps even should be doing rather then staring at a clock. On the other hand it does give you a harsh reminder.
But as you’re a regular reader of lifestyle design blogs or other personal development inspired writings you already know this. “Make every second count” and “Tempus fugit” seems to be the collective motto these days. It’s like having your personal devil with a red-hot poker running after you making sure you keep running.
Contrasts in Life
That devil will catch you in the end. You’ll either stumble or just drop dead on the spot and he’s got you. The game of life is to stay ahead for as long as possible. Some people work very hard at that and are true workaholics. Others will just sit somewhere, quietly waiting for death to come claim them. A huge contrast if there ever was one.
We all know people who just seem to crawl through life, let it pass by day by day with each day looking like the previous. Spending days watching tv, sleeping late and doing nothing remarkable. Spending life in anonymity and they might just even complain about the world around them and how life is so unfair. Blaming themselves will never occur to them naturally. The only thing they regret is that they didn’t get to live the life they imagined when they were young.
Likewise we all know people who seem to be working every waking hour. There are a lot of bloggers online that fit this description but not all hard workers are as well known. Sometimes you won’t even see someone working hard but he still seems to get things done at a huge pace. You’ll probably fit in somewhere closer to the hard working group right? Or did you spend the last hour on such useful things as twitter, facebook, youtube or deep in your RSS feed reader?
False Productivity
You call that productivity? I sure hope not. File it under research or marketing but it won’t matter. Spending hours on end with those things won’t get you very far. It’s the tv of the new generation.
Something needs to change, but the change has to come from within. Nobody changes because others want to, they only change when they see that what they are doing isn’t what is in their greater interests. Watching tv is just about as useful as watching a clock tick. it’s not adding towards reaching goals, living the life you want to be living. Tv isn’t the only “clock” in this way but again, you already know this.
What you leave Behind
Let’s have another look at death, you can’t take anything with you. All you can do is make people remember you and it’s often said that you won’t really die unless people forget about you. An underlying goal in life once you realize this – and a very powerful motivation- is to make it damn hard for people to forget about you. What am I saying, make it impossible for people to forget you and what you did in life.
Sitting in front of that tv all day will make people remember you for a while, you might even be remembered by your grandchildren. But after that generation you’re probably forgotten. If you make an impression on the world however, people will definitely find it hard to forget about you. History and literature are full of these people, and for the last century television and radio have added to this group. Last but not least we have the corporate world and the online world. Both have names that will be remembered for decades or even centuries.Because these people made an impression, they had an impact.
Make the Impact
I wanted to present you with a highly controversial example of a person who made an impact, but thought better of it and will not present that name here. If you’re curious you can contact me over twitter. Instead let’s have a look at a simpler example: Terry Pratchett. A fantasy writer who’s books have been read by millions. He found something he was rather good at and stuck with it. Spending countless hours writing and promoting his books. To keep things closer to home, think about people like Darren Rowse, Clay Collins, Seth Godin, Jun Loayza. You either have heard of them or will hear about them soon enough because it’s their hidden goal to make it impossible for you to forget about them.
Your hidden goal from this moment onward is “Make it impossible for people to forget me”. In everything you do, ask yourself if this will make that impact. You don’t have all the time in the world and you know it!
How do you shave a book?
;)
Funny typo, nice article made me think about my own life.
Changing yourself always sounds so much easier than it is in reality.
Thanks for pointing out that typo Rik. Edited it of course and found another one while at it.
In theory, practice and theory are the same. In practice, they never are :)