A Question Worth Asking?

Let’s say you are 50 years old and you are going to live another 60 years.  You just happen to be one of the few people in the world whose life expectancy exceeds one hundred.

Yes, we know, you may either believe that’s impossible or you may not be interested in living that long, but please bear with us, we are making a point here. You are 50 and you are going to live another 60 years. Nothing you can do about that.

Now, in all seriousness: How many days would that mean you would still have to live, to contribute? Well we did the math and it is a total of 21, 915 days-an equivalent to 525,960 hours.

When we think about it, is this really a lot of days? Is this really a lot of hours? Regardless of how we look at it, when we say we are going to live an additional 60 years beyond our 50th birthday, that seems like a long time!  Until we look at that timeframe in days or hours.  Then is seems surprisingly less.

So, what’s our point here?  When we think about who we are, what we do, how we contribute to the world, sometimes it is hard for us to see how our daily activities are the single most important steps in our overall desire to contribute to the world.  Sometimes, as a result, we lose perspective, direction, and even desire, as a result.

Steve Jobs, whose contributions have made an unmistakable impact on the world, was reported to have a daily ritual, which can be best captured in his own quote:

“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.”

You only have 21,915 days.  If you asked yourself, “Would I want to do what I’m about to do today if this were the last day of my life?” How might exploring this question bring about more insight, more satisfaction, more joy, about life than ever imagined.

 Moreover, such a question, when asked regularly and frequently, and with intention, may become the most powerful tool in guiding us towards ensuring that we are making the most significant contribution we can ever make in our lifetime.

A Question Worth Asking? 

Let us know your thoughts. To discuss further, join on Sunday, 5/17, at 1pm on our Self-Expression Series Webinar. See you then. Click here 

With much love,
Karen and Mardoche