You have a .15% chance of dying in 2015

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Here’s the cold, hard truth— you’re quickly running out of time.

Between 25-35 years old? You have about a .15% chance of dying in 2015. That’s a 1 in 750 chance. Decent odds, but there’s an inherent reality to face:

There’s a non-zero chance that 2015 will be the last New Year you celebrate.

Mortality is real. Especially your own mortality.

There’s a non-zero chance that 2015 will be the last New Year you celebrate.

“The part of life we really live is small. For all the rest of existence is not life, but merely time.” Seneca

How much of your life did you actually live this year? How much of it was spent grinding away? At the job you hate? Sitting in traffic? Doing busy work? Doing bullshit.

Hint: Most of it

Life is finite

We’re frugal with dollars and cents but treat our time as limitless. It’s the opposite. Time is our real currency— there’s an exact number of grains in our hourglass and they can’t ever be refilled.

The point isn’t to be depressed by our limited existence. Embrace it. Work within the parameters, get busy living. You have two choices— you can squander decades and only live for years, or you can squeeze decades of living within a single life. It’s your choice.

Everyday you need to remind yourself that life is finite. The glass will eventually be empty. I remind myself by tracking a life progress bar. Grey blocks are spent, white is the amount left. Even at 27, I’m feeling the crunch. It reminds me to make everyday important. To live each day.

You can build your own with this Google Docs spreadsheet.

Homework

By the way, you might feel a little uncomfortable. That’s good. It’s worthless to be in denial about your own mortalilty (it doesn’t make it less real).

You can’t be great until you realize that there’s limited time to actually become great.

1. Read On the Shortness of Life by Seneca (it’s free, you have no excuse). This is a powerful piece of writing and well worth the small investment.
2. Start thinking about your obnoxiously massive goals for 2015. You’ll need them for my follow-up article.

Comment below and tell me— is this depressing or inspirational? What are your massive goals for 2015?