[CJP Insights] How to die Empty

Covid19 has sensitised us around a lot of statistical measures — discharge rate, recovering rate ….

However, for mankind as a whole, there is one statistic, which since eternity, has been 100%. And that’s our death rate. We all die. “You know, the death rate is hovering right around 100%.”

Disease and death are no-brainers. No one wants to die and as Steve Jobs said it so wonderfully: “Even people who want to go to heaven, don’t want to die to get there.”

We spend our entire lives, trying to avoid this fact. We run from pillar to post, chase goals.

The buzzwords at webinars we attends are:

a) life of fulfilment

b) landing your dream job

c) discovering your purpose

But when you are in the midst of the fray it can feel futile to think about anything other than hitting your deadlines and chasing the next promotion. Often we feel frustrated that our car is stuck in the first gear (no promotions, no pay hikes) — we are experts at cribbing

When the shop is to be shut forever, the question to be asked is “Did the work I did really matter?” “Who am I, how did I get here, and how do I go back?”

Todd Henry, author of “Die Empty”, in his first book, “The Accidental Creative,” writes about a meeting in which a friend asked a strange and unexpected question: “What do you think is the most valuable land in the world?”

The guesses were — Manhattan, the oil fields of the Middle East, and the gold mines of South Africa …….

The answer — the Graveyard.

It’s all about priorities.

Yes, feeding your kids and keeping a roof over your head are important priorities. No one’s disputing that.

But everything else you do? The brand new cars, the social obligations, the expensive home remodelling? What’s that for? Why are you wasting your time?

In the graveyard are buried all of the unwritten novels, never-launched businesses, unreconciled relationships, and all of the other things that people thought, ‘I’ll get around to that tomorrow.’ One day, however, their tomorrows ran out.”

As a creator or entrepreneur, you don’t want to die with your best work still inside you.

The book, “Die Empty,” is about cultivating the mind-set and the methods you need to unleash your best work each day, and to increase the odds that, at the end of your life, you will not regret how you spent your days.

What are your thoughts on this?