04 Sep Live your best life so you have nothing to fear
“Mortality and motivation” by Martin Wright
My younger son is highly influenced by motivational speeches and online blogs. He uses them to help his motivation many times during the day and especially when he’s training in the gym. They can be an invaluable tool to get yourself into the right frame of mind to enable you to face the day and the challenges that it may hold.
His current motivational boost is called Fear of Death and is voiced by Curtis Jackson, or better known to younger readers as the rap star 50Cent. This concept intrigued me and I was interested to find out how death could be motivational. After my second listen to this two minute talk I thought this guy is right!
He talks about our refusal to face our inevitable mortality, and how we should embrace life by changing our attitude to be positive. He also indicates that we should separate the petty things in our lives from those that are truly important, and finishes by saying that once we have conquered our fear of death, there is nothing else to fear and we can appreciate our life for its permanence.
This concept fits in with Advance’s Peak Performance course which discusses the 30,000 days we have in our lives. (Sorry… I’ve been informed by Heather that, following long discussions with various doctors the figure has risen from the 27,000 days some of you were taught, as we are now living longer!)
How often have we heard or even said to ourselves, “It’s ok. I have plenty of time, I’ll do it tomorrow” or “I’ll do it later” or even worse, “I can’t be bothered!” In these cases, tomorrow or later never come because there is always something to do which takes its place. So the book never gets read, the trip never happens or the job goes to someone else, because we didn’t get our act together in time, and perhaps we have never said sorry or I love you to that certain person.
I’ve worked with men who have said they have never had the time to read their children a bedtime story and then suddenly it’s too late, the children have grown up. And what about the number of people who won’t attempt something because they haven’t time and so miss out on tremendous opportunities. What are we doing to ourselves?
Our 30,000 days diminish at an alarming rate. In our late teens and early twenties the world is our oyster. As parents we should encourage our children to grasp the opportunity. Too often I’ve heard parents say that “Our children can’t do that because………..whatever.”
We should embrace age as inevitably we all progress down that well trodden path. Being old doesn’t mean we can’t or shouldn’t do things. Ms Doris Long became the oldest person at the age of 101 to abseil down a tall building. I wonder how many people told her that she was too old?! People in their 60’s, 70’s, 80s and 90s are achieving degrees, travelling the world and completing extraordinary life goals.
So why do we fear death? Is it because we suddenly realise that our 30,000 days are nearly through and we haven’t done the things we dreamt of? If we go for our dreams and goals and achieve them no matter what our age or circumstance, perhaps our life would seem more permanent and as Curtis says “We would have nothing to fear.”
So how many days do we have left? The reality is we don’t know. How many times have we said, “I’ll do it tomorrow?” Shame on us!