How to live before you die
| Monday February 17, 2014 16:14
Your legacy is what you leave to those that come after you before you die. Your pursuits represent what you want to hunt down and catch before you die. Everyone who is alive wants to live before they die. The question is how? In this issue we take a closer look at what various people have said and written about this important matter.
Steve Jobs, the late famous founder of Apple said, “No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to Heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because death is very likely the single best invention of life. It is life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.
“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition ... Stay hungry, Stay foolish.”
There are a few very profound things that Jobs captured in his speech. First, Jobs points out a very poignant truth that nobody wants to die. Since nobody wants to die, one of the most important things you can do in life is to live in such a way that you do not die unnecessarily. Physical death is unavoidable, but that does not mean that one should live a life of reckless abandon or commit suicide. The lifestyle that you choose determines whether you live long or die early, and it also determines your long term financial, physical, emotional and spiritual health.
The second important thing that Jobs says is self explanatory-Don’t waste your life living somebody else’s life. Whose dreams are you chasing-yours or your father’s? Whose approval are you seeking-yours or society’s? Before you die learn to live your life and not someone’s. It is important to come to terms with the real you, and bring the real you to life. Your greatest success in life is becoming yourself, and fully deploying that self in the course of this pilgrimage.
Third! There will always be others’ opinions and your inner voice. Sometimes common wisdom will be in sync with your inner voice, but many a time it will contradict it. This life is yours to live. When other people’s opinions run contrary to your inner voice, give preeminence to your inner voice because it expresses your real aspirations.
Fourth! Stay hungry and stay foolish. Too many people are content with too little and too few. Too many people are too willing to die before they are fully born. The best way to live before you die is to be always mindful of the fact that there is still a lot to be accomplished, and there are many more stars to aim and shoot at. The greatest mistake is to think that your current station in life is your destination. Don’t be too wise for your own good. When you try to be too wise, you begin to avoid taking risks. Do not be too mistake-conscious because it stifles your creativity.
Conan O’Brien said, “Your biggest liability is your need to succeed. Your need to always find yourself on the sweet side of the bell curve. Because success is a lot like a bright, white tuxedo. You feel terrific when you get it, but then you’re desperately afraid of getting it dirty, of spoiling it in any way. And yet, every failure is freeing. In later life you will be as nostalgic for the bad as well as for the good. Fall down, make a mess, break something occasionally. And remember that the story is never over.”
Perhaps the most striking thing that O’Brien said is that our need to succeed is actually a liability. We all need to succeed, and yet if we are not careful we can become hostages of that success. Instead of success liberating us; it can actually teach us to seek to avoid failure and to be over protective. Success demands action, and there is no action that can be totally above reproach. The story of your life is never over until the last breath. It is by constantly engaging in action that you will make the script better and better. As for the mistakes, they will appear from time to time. Mistakes are not evidence that you are incompetent or incapable; rather they are a testimony that you have tried to accomplish something. In the same vein grumbling about life is not evidence that you have been wronged. It merely tells that you have a victim mentality.
Bradley Whitford emphasised the same when he said, “Take action. Every story you’ve ever connected with, every leader you’ve ever admired, every puny little thing that you’ve ever accomplished is the result of taking action. You have a choice. You can either be a passive victim of circumstance or you can be the active hero of your own life. Action is the antidote to apathy and cynicism and despair. You will inevitably make mistakes. Learn what you can and move on. At the end of your days, you will be judged by your gallop, not by your stumble.”
While you are still alive before you die, take action. When you are bored; take action. When you in trouble; take action. When you want to make progress in life; take action. When you are sick; take action. Every day and in every circumstance; take action.
Not to be outdone the inimitable Winston Chrchill said something that needs no elaboration.”Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never, never — in nothing, great or small, large or petty — never give in, except to convictions of honor and good sense.”
Finally you need to come to terms with the fact that most of your problems are man-made and therefore they can be solved by man. And man can be as big as he wants. No problem of human destiny is beyond human beings. Cooperate with man; and solutions will be found.