Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big ch... — Steve Jobs

Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything - all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important.

Author: Steve Jobs

Insight: Most of us live as though we have unlimited time, filling our days with obligations that don't actually matter to us. We say yes to things out of habit, fear, or what we think we're supposed to do. Then occasionally something cracks that illusion—a health scare, losing someone close, or just a random 3 a.m. moment of clarity—and suddenly the noise quiets down. Everything you've been stressed about maintaining your image around stops feeling urgent. The job title you thought you needed doesn't glow the same way. Jobs is pointing at something practical here, not morbid. He's describing a filter. When you genuinely consider that your time is finite, you stop optimizing for the wrong things. You stop performing for an imaginary audience. That promotion you're grinding for, the thing you're pretending to enjoy to fit in, the grudge you're holding—they all get weighed differently. The question changes from "What will people think?" to "Is this actually mine? Is this actually good?" The trick is you don't have to wait for a crisis to access this clarity. You can practice it. Ask yourself regularly: what would I do differently if I knew I had limited time? What am I protecting that doesn't deserve protection? Often the answer is simpler and truer than the life you're currently living.

Source: Stanford Commencement Address, 2005