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“…for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: ’If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about

“…for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: ’If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?’ And whenever the answer has been no for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something. Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life.” - Steve Jobs' 2005 Stanford Commencement Address https://youtu.be/UF8uR6Z6KLc?t=562 https://youtu.be/UF8uR6Z6KLc?t=562

2OEH8eoCRo0 4y ago
Memento Mori https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memento_mori https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memento_mori
- wrycoder 4y ago
  But in an old man who has known human joys and sorrows, and has achieved whatever work it was in him to do, the fear of death is somewhat abject and ignoble. The best way to overcome it -so at least it seems to me- is to make your interests gradually wider and more impersonal, until bit by bit the walls of the ego recede, and your life becomes increasingly merged in the universal life. An individual human existence should be like a river: small at first, narrowly contained within its banks, and rushing passionately past rocks and over waterfalls. Gradually the river grows wider, the banks recede, the waters flow more quietly, and in the end, without any visible break, they become merged in the sea, and painlessly lose their individual being. The man who, in old age, can see his life in this way, will not suffer from the fear of death, since the things he cares for will continue. And if, with the decay of vitality, weariness increases, the thought of rest will not be unwelcome. I should wish to die while still at work, knowing that others will carry on what I can no longer do and content in the thought that what was possible has been done. — Bertrand Russell
smallnix 4y ago
"Chemotherapy today? No again!" That "too many days in a row" is the critical part in this piece of advice in my opinion.
- corobo 4y ago
  Any person or company that goes to extremes to obtain immortality* ends up dying earlier than nature intended. It's the Voldemort rule. (In the story he died ~75ish years old after making himself immortal, where most wizards easily live beyond 100) * Not literally yet, but probably soon.
SnowHill9902 4y ago
It’s cute but it doesn’t mean what people think it means. It’s not a call for hedonism or short-term happiness, but the complete opposite: a call for transcendence and meaning and good deeds reflected in eternity (i.e. after you die today).
bloqs 4y ago
This is not good advice and it largely goes against steve jobs work. This fundamentally works, for a small subset of people that are predisposed via their personality to extremely high levels of dilligence and conscientiousness who need to be told to stop working. If you are the opposite, this advice basically says "stop sacrificing the short term for the long term, and stop working towards difficult but ultimately worthwhile things, and enjoy short term pleasure" which is terrible advice if you do that by habit anyway
- modernerd 4y ago
  It's not a rallying cry for hedonism, short-termism or defeatism. It's a suggestion to correct course; to be self-aware; to get over your fears; to ensure you're pursuing things you find worthwhile and believe in; to accept that even for those things you will have days when you don't love them, but to consider a change if that feeling persists. He goes on to say, “…all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure — these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose”, which is less often quoted but just as important.
  - SunghoYahng 4y ago
    I know that's how people take this advice. But that's not the explicit meaning of the words. It's like me telling you that you're an asshole and you should take it to mean that I love you.
  - kerpotgh 4y ago
    [dead]
  - borroka 4y ago
    I don't like the appeals to mortality (at all), the "things just fall away in the face of death" argument. It is like "The Top Five Regrets of the Dying" all over again. The "regrets" sound good, are honey for our eyes and ears. But of course, we reason, they should have—it's always them, not us—thought more about family and less about work, picked up the phone and called their friend, written a note to the family members who had invited them to their wedding anniversary. In the end, we don't call our friend because we don't feel like it, maybe we tell ourselves that if we weren't so lazy and busy we would do it, as if laziness were an unappealable sentence instead of a choice. We don't change jobs not because we are afraid, but because we make some calculations about trade-offs. We prefer to spend time at work rather than with the family maybe because the wife or husband has put on forty pounds since the wedding, and children surely are the greatest joy, but if we were to go back in time maybe we wouldn't make them. Plus, if we hadn't worked all those hours, who would have thrown money around the house? How can we be on social media instead of talking to our family members, friends, kids, spouse, some may ask. Maybe we are not just a victim of the times, it is just that we have talked to our friends 1500 times and in our pocket there is a world that engages us, interest us. We would have loved to be more adventurous in expressing our feelings, of course, but we were well aware that those we wanted would never come with us. We live life now and, apart from some unfortunate fellows, we are not likely to die tomorrow or in one week or in one year. Embarrassment will maybe go away when we are dying, but what about the 10/20/30 years or more between now and then?
giantg2 4y ago
That might work for rich people. Most people have little choice in work etc. Often times it's better to just stick either it until the feeling passes, or to redefine your expectations to match reality. That's really hard, but much easier for most people due to lack of being rich.

2OEH8eoCRo0 4y ago

Memento Mori https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memento_mori https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memento_mori

wrycoder 4y ago
But in an old man who has known human joys and sorrows, and has achieved whatever work it was in him to do, the fear of death is somewhat abject and ignoble. The best way to overcome it -so at least it seems to me- is to make your interests gradually wider and more impersonal, until bit by bit the walls of the ego recede, and your life becomes increasingly merged in the universal life. An individual human existence should be like a river: small at first, narrowly contained within its banks, and rushing passionately past rocks and over waterfalls. Gradually the river grows wider, the banks recede, the waters flow more quietly, and in the end, without any visible break, they become merged in the sea, and painlessly lose their individual being. The man who, in old age, can see his life in this way, will not suffer from the fear of death, since the things he cares for will continue. And if, with the decay of vitality, weariness increases, the thought of rest will not be unwelcome. I should wish to die while still at work, knowing that others will carry on what I can no longer do and content in the thought that what was possible has been done. — Bertrand Russell

smallnix 4y ago

"Chemotherapy today? No again!" That "too many days in a row" is the critical part in this piece of advice in my opinion.

corobo 4y ago
Any person or company that goes to extremes to obtain immortality* ends up dying earlier than nature intended. It's the Voldemort rule. (In the story he died ~75ish years old after making himself immortal, where most wizards easily live beyond 100) * Not literally yet, but probably soon.

SnowHill9902 4y ago

It’s cute but it doesn’t mean what people think it means. It’s not a call for hedonism or short-term happiness, but the complete opposite: a call for transcendence and meaning and good deeds reflected in eternity (i.e. after you die today).

bloqs 4y ago

This is not good advice and it largely goes against steve jobs work. This fundamentally works, for a small subset of people that are predisposed via their personality to extremely high levels of dilligence and conscientiousness who need to be told to stop working. If you are the opposite, this advice basically says "stop sacrificing the short term for the long term, and stop working towards difficult but ultimately worthwhile things, and enjoy short term pleasure" which is terrible advice if you do that by habit anyway

modernerd 4y ago
It's not a rallying cry for hedonism, short-termism or defeatism. It's a suggestion to correct course; to be self-aware; to get over your fears; to ensure you're pursuing things you find worthwhile and believe in; to accept that even for those things you will have days when you don't love them, but to consider a change if that feeling persists. He goes on to say, “…all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure — these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose”, which is less often quoted but just as important.
- SunghoYahng 4y ago
  I know that's how people take this advice. But that's not the explicit meaning of the words. It's like me telling you that you're an asshole and you should take it to mean that I love you.
- kerpotgh 4y ago
  [dead]
- borroka 4y ago
  I don't like the appeals to mortality (at all), the "things just fall away in the face of death" argument. It is like "The Top Five Regrets of the Dying" all over again. The "regrets" sound good, are honey for our eyes and ears. But of course, we reason, they should have—it's always them, not us—thought more about family and less about work, picked up the phone and called their friend, written a note to the family members who had invited them to their wedding anniversary. In the end, we don't call our friend because we don't feel like it, maybe we tell ourselves that if we weren't so lazy and busy we would do it, as if laziness were an unappealable sentence instead of a choice. We don't change jobs not because we are afraid, but because we make some calculations about trade-offs. We prefer to spend time at work rather than with the family maybe because the wife or husband has put on forty pounds since the wedding, and children surely are the greatest joy, but if we were to go back in time maybe we wouldn't make them. Plus, if we hadn't worked all those hours, who would have thrown money around the house? How can we be on social media instead of talking to our family members, friends, kids, spouse, some may ask. Maybe we are not just a victim of the times, it is just that we have talked to our friends 1500 times and in our pocket there is a world that engages us, interest us. We would have loved to be more adventurous in expressing our feelings, of course, but we were well aware that those we wanted would never come with us. We live life now and, apart from some unfortunate fellows, we are not likely to die tomorrow or in one week or in one year. Embarrassment will maybe go away when we are dying, but what about the 10/20/30 years or more between now and then?

giantg2 4y ago

That might work for rich people. Most people have little choice in work etc. Often times it's better to just stick either it until the feeling passes, or to redefine your expectations to match reality. That's really hard, but much easier for most people due to lack of being rich.