If you knew you were going to die in one month, would you still set goals? How about six months? Would you still pursue your already established goals? Would there be goals that you would regret not having already achieved? Or, would there just be a list of last minute tasks and sad goodbyes?

One of the greatest catalysts for conquering goal achievement inertia is the emotional acknowledgment of our own mortality. Intellectually, we already acknowledge our mortality. We are all quite aware that there is no one alive who is not going to die sooner or later, including, sadly, ourself. But, the emotional acceptance that our life might end sooner than we care to think about…well, that’s just not something we care to think about.

Here is the beginning of an article written by Bronnie Ware, an Australian musician who worked with the dying for many years. This short article might help you answer some of the above questions.

“For many years I worked in palliative care. My patients were those who had gone home to die. Some incredibly special times were shared. I was with them for the last three to twelve weeks of their lives.

People grow a lot when they are faced with their own mortality. I learnt never to underestimate someone’s capacity for growth. Some changes were phenomenal. Each experienced a variety of emotions, as expected, denial, fear, anger, remorse, more denial and eventually acceptance. Every single patient found their peace before they departed though, every one of them.

When questioned about any regrets they had or anything they would do differently, common themes surfaced again and again. Here are the most common…”

You can read the rest of Bronnie’s article HERE, on her blog, and I recommend you do.

BTW, how do you know that you aren’t going to die in one month…or two, or six, or twelve? Or even sooner?

Answer; you don’t.

Enjoy today.
Achieve today.
Tomorrow is promised to no one!
 

PS:  If you haven’t seen the movie “The Bucket List,” get it and watch it soon. You’ll get to see how two dying old codgers played by Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman meet and journey together on a final excursion with a bucket full of goals in hand. It’s both comical and poignant.