
Nothing Focuses The Mind Like The Ultimate Deadline: Death - aashaykumar92
http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2013/12/31/256596253/nothing-focuses-the-mind-like-the-ultimate-deadline-death
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JonSkeptic
This reminds me of the Hagakure:

The Way of the Samurai is found in death. When it comes to either/or, there is
only the quick choice of death. It is not particularly difficult. Be
determined and advance. To say that dying without reaching one's aim is to die
a dog's death is the frivolous way of sophisticates. When pressed with the
choice of life or death, it is not necessary to gain one's aim. We all want to
live. And in large part we make our logic according to what we like. But not
having attained our aim and continuing to live is cowardice. This is a thin
dangerous line. To die without gaining one's aim is a dog's death and
fanaticism. But there is no shame in this. This is the substance of the Way of
the Samurai. If by setting one's heart right every morning and evening, one is
able to live as though his body were already dead, he gains freedom in the
Way. His whole life will be without blame, and he will succeed in his calling.

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elwell
Sometimes I trick my mind into thinking I will die if I don't do a certain
thing. This can be a good motivator, but can lead to unnecessary anxiety if
not used in moderation. Also, it only works as well as you trick yourself into
believing it. I've noticed a marked increase in my abilities to focus and in
my quickness when I use this method during a game or something similar. I
figure I am leveraging the high value placed on survival which has been
cultivated via evolution, using it to enhance my mental acuity and awareness
such that I might 'survive'.

~~~
petercooper
_Sometimes I trick my mind into thinking I will die if I don 't do a certain
thing._

It's different since you do it voluntarily but this is a very common symptom
of obsessive compulsive disorder so.. just be careful, especially if you catch
yourself doing it for something that's not productive or positive.

That aside, it's not too difficult to build up a _general_ sense of mortality
that we seem to naturally avoid, by studying history, lurking in some of the
more depressing sub-Reddits, etc ;-)

~~~
elwell
Mild OCD has been something that has given me undue stress in my life at
times; thankfully, it's not very prevalent in my life these days (intentional
exposure to the anxieties seems to have worked for me). But, I most certainly
agree; which is why I included, "This can be a good motivator, but can lead to
unnecessary anxiety if not used in moderation."

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workhere-io
Always being anxious about living life to the fullest can be stressful and
thus counterproductive to the idea of living a happy life. I find that people
are often happier when they aren't afraid to "waste time" doing simple things
like sitting on a bench and talking to friends while life goes by.

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Kronopath
I made something very similar to this watch a while back for the homepage of
my website ([http://kronopath.net/](http://kronopath.net/)). It's a seven-
handed clock, with the longest three hands being your typical second, minute,
and hour hands, but with each of the shorter hands taking longer to make a
full cycle than the last. The shortest hand will finish its rotation when I
turn 80, which is a (very loose) estimate for how long I have to live.

The fact that someone took this same idea and made it into a commercial
product is interesting and a bit disconcerting, if only because I wish I'd
thought of doing that first. But it's good to have a reminder that you have a
very limited time to do whatever it is you want to do. It helps maintain a
sense of forward pressure.

And if you need any more motivation, remember that 83 years is only roughly
1000 months long. What are you planning to do this month?

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kseistrup
Memento mori — remember that you wil die ⌘
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memento_mori](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memento_mori)

~~~
GotAnyMegadeth
Look at the evidence, only around 93.5% of people who have ever lived have
died [0]. With a sample size of 108 billion, I think we can say the data is
quite accurate. Therefore I think your chance of living for ever is more like
1 in 20.

[0] -
[http://www.prb.org/Publications/Articles/2002/HowManyPeopleH...](http://www.prb.org/Publications/Articles/2002/HowManyPeopleHaveEverLivedonEarth.aspx)

~~~
kseistrup
That's correct. However, many people live their life as if they have an
eternity to waste. Truth is that life is very short, and a technique like
memento mori can help us focus on the essential.

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midas007
Lost a hacker artist friend this last year to cancer.

Whatever you want to say to someone, experience or build, get to it right now.
And repeat every single day.

Also:
[http://www.ted.com/talks/steve_jobs_how_to_live_before_you_d...](http://www.ted.com/talks/steve_jobs_how_to_live_before_you_die.html)

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kordless
Sitting around thinking about kicking the bucket is just setting expectations.
Live in the moment - it's what we all have right this second. This night may
be your last. Make the most of it.

~~~
delinquentme
^ coping mechanisms. Learn some biology and stop aging.

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nashadelic
A lot of successful people and a number of religions place high value on our
ephemerality as a way of focusing on the important things.

In practice, I've found this rather hard to do and a lot of times a putdown as
well. I think the concept of your own death is hard to truly fathom. It's the
same reason generally heart patients ignore doctor's advice of stop eating
crap and exercising more or face death.

A much better workaround I've found was after watching Groundhog Day [1]. In
the movie, Bill Murray is stuck in a day where, no matter what he does, the
next morning the day starts exactly the same. In that day, it doesn't matter
if he dies, kills someone, makes someone fall in love with him, robs a bank;
the next day, its the same old day. _spoilers_ The movie then becomes about
what if you had just one day (the exact same day) in your life, how would you
live that day? A perfect day. One where you do as much good as you can.

I think the movie tries to tackle the same issue of our limited time on earth
by taking a rather interesting angle.

By thinking of your day as a groundhog day and wondering, if this day is going
to be the same day forever; how best can I live it? For me, this has been a
better approach to how I should spend my day rather than waking up and
focusing upon my death.

[1]
[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107048/](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107048/)

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ChrisNorstrom
My only concern is this... If you've convinced yourself your whole life that
you're going to die at a certain date will the placebo effect come into play
and actually make you die prematurely around that date?

Other than that it works and it works well. I'm 27, the average male lives to
age 72, which means I've got 45 years of life left. It's boosted my
productivity, helped me focus on the things that matter, helped me manage my
fear of what others think of me (I don't care anymore).

My next experiment is to have a countdown timer on my desktop that counts down
to my demise. A bit morbid but I've accepted things like this long ago so it's
not depressing.

~~~
kseistrup
I bet the mean years left for a 27 y.o. man is greater than 72-27, but i don't
know if there are any public statistics to back up the claim.

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jotm
And then I look at my Tikker and see that I've got... like... a $h!tton of
numbers left! Yeah, I'm OK, I can do all that stuff later :-)

Seriously, even if it displayed the time left in years, seeing 40 years on the
screen will make most people go "Eh, that's enough time for everything".

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vezzy-fnord
Fixation on death is pathetic. This infatuation our society has on the
inevitable end of life is ridiculous. It obviously makes for great artistic
themes, but death does not concern me whatsoever.

I live here and now. Whenever I die, that will be the end of that. But I don't
care for it. If you're so obsessive about marking and reminding people about
the end of their days, then I advise that you be the first to go.

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ruuki
Worst product idea ever.

