Can’t see the video? Click here.

“…your birthday exists in relation to another day, a day that is impossible to know: we pass silently, every year, over the anniversary of our death.” – Thomas Hardy

Drop the petty shit. Do things that matter. Because some day you’ll be dead. And you don’t want to have spent your life mired in meaningless mediocrity.

This isn’t a new message. But it is a true message. And this isn’t bad news. This should set you free. We all die, but not all of us truly live.

What you gonna do?

…

P.S. This is my 200th post. My first was almost two years ago. Many thanks for your kind attention.

There’s a powerful exercise in Stephen Covey’s book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, in which he asks you to visualize your own funeral.

Picture three people getting up to say a few words about you, the type of person you were, what you stood for, how you lived. The first speaker is a good friend or family member. The second is someone from your community. The third is a work colleague.

Close your eyes and imagine all three speakers giving sincere and glowing testimonies of you and the life you lived. Everyone listening is moved to tears as they remember how much you meant to them, noticing that the world is a little less bright now that you’ve gone.

Open your eyes.

What you just saw is what you’re aiming for. If you were to die today and have that very funeral you visualized next week, well, congratulations; you’re living an inspired life. Keep it up.

If, however, you think such a tribute is unlikely, well then you’ve got work to do.

Figure out what it is that you want to be remembered for, by friends, colleagues, community members, and everyone else. Work towards becoming that memory.

Deepak Chopra

“If you and I are having a single thought of violence or hatred against anyone in the world at this moment, we are contributing to the wounding of the world.”

As Wikipedia puts it, “Deepak Chopra is an endocrinologist, lecturer, celebrity and author of books on spirituality and mind-body medicine.” His self-described life purpose is to reach critical mass for healing, personal and social transformation, and enlightenment.

Chopra appeals to me because he blends science and spirituality effectively; his teachings makes sense from both perspectives. I’ve read two of his books: The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success and Life After Death. I still read summarized chapters of the former weekly, while the latter completely changed my beliefs about the afterlife.

It was my cousin who turned me on to Chopra about eighteen months ago when he sent the following video and subsequently blew my mind:

Chopra links:

• Follow him on Twitter
• Youtube: Lecture on The Mystery of Consciousness (1h 15m)
• Take the vow of nonviolence in your speech, thoughts and actions (not to be taken lightly)

Tim Ferriss

“Fear is your friend. Fear is an indicator. Sometimes it shows you what you shouldn’t do; more often than not it shows you exactly what you should do.”

Tim Ferriss does a lot of things well. His talent lies in deconstructing all kinds of skills and mastering them in no time. Among other things, he speaks six languages, holds a world record in tango, and in 1999 won the Chinese national kickboxing championship after just a month of training.

Fortunately for us, he’s keen to share tips and ideas, and does so via his blog and his book, The 4-Hour Work Week. I first read the book a little over a year ago, and learned a lot about developing an entrepreneurial attitude, efficiency vs. effectiveness and the Pareto principle.

In this TED talk, Ferriss talks about quickly mastering swimming, languages and tango:

Ferris links:

• Follow him on Twitter
• The Art of Letting Bad Things Happen
• The Karmic Capitalist: Should I Wait Until I’m Rich to Give Back?

Steve Pavlina

“Life’s problems do not exist to beat you down. They exist to help you grow.”

Steve Pavlina runs a blog called Personal Development for Smart People and last I heard he was the highest-earning personal development blogger in the world, pulling in in excess of $100k per month. He doesn’t do things by halves when it comes to personal development, preferring to immerse himself in experiments such as polyphasic sleep and a 100 percent raw food diet.

Through reading Steve’s blog, I’ve been inspired to make many positive changes in my life, such as moving to a plant-based diet and working to improve my public speaking skills. He’s also made me reconsider much of what I believed to be true about the world and introduced me to a whole bunch of different concepts that have proved beneficial.

In short, he’s helped me become a better person.

Pavlina links:

• Follow him on Twitter
• 10 Reasons You Should Never Get a Job
• Podcast: Truth and Awareness (20 minutes)