> [I ask 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.
Really? If today were the last day of my life I'd do things very, very differently - I can't imagine that answer ever being "yes".
I have two tattoos that I got in response to an extremely close friend getting shot and killed by his father-in-law after being threatened by him for quite some time. It was a child custody dispute (long backstory), but the threats were if he didn't drop the lawsuit (? not sure what the word is for the trial to get custody from someone) he would kill my friend and my friend's wife (the murderer's daughter). My friend refused to on the principle that he could never let someone like that have custody of a kid. My friend was killed two days after the judgement giving him and his wife custody.
The tattoos are on my forearms and say "love life" and "embrace death". It's the inevitability of death and living your life in a manner that at the moment of your death, you can look back and be proud of the decisions you made. It doesn't mean live today as if it were your last, it means live it such that if it turned into your last, you have no regrets. And if you have any regrets in your past, fix them.
It quickly became second nature to consider all decisions on this axis, and if the result of a decision made you regret it, fix it quickly.
Totally agree. If today were the last day of my life, I would spend it visiting my favorite spots of local natural beauty with my family. Not working, no matter how fulfilling the job. Even Steve Jobs, who was famously driven, left his career for his friends and family once he knew the end was approaching.
Since today is not my last (I hope!), and I know that I want to give myself and my family a life that is fulfilling for a long time to come, I work to earn money and hopefully make the world a better place.
I think it's good to remember that time is precious, but trying to guide your work habits by the "last day of your life" is not really that helpful IMO.
>Really? If today were the last day of my life I'd do things very, very differently - I can't imagine that answer ever being "yes".
Sure, if it was your very very last day and you knew it, you might did something extremely different (e.g, get partying like crazy, spend all your cash on expensive gifts to yourself or go out helping people, etc). That's not the point, you're seeing it too literally.
The gist of the question is "given your days are finite, do you want to continue to do what you are about to do today?".
Really? If today were the last day of my life I'd do things very, very differently - I can't imagine that answer ever being "yes".