Many of us lack motivation. The reason or reasons to act in a certain way. You may lack motivation to get your work done. To get in better shape. To start the book, or business or clean out the basement in your home. Some of you may be able to start just fine, but, cannot finish. It makes you wonder, what is the secret? When you know people that can start and finish and succeed. Or you are simply stuck with no direction.
I’ll share with you what author Austin Kleon uses to start and finish everything he does.
He calls it Death and Deadlines.
Deadlines are an easy one. Something has to be done by a certain time. For example, you have a 7 pm deadline to make your dinner reservation. Your boss wants the report by 2 pm on Wednesday. Deadlines are useful because even if you procrastinate you still have to get it done by a certain day and time. Many authors chose a publisher for their books for this reason instead of publishing themselves. The deadlines keep the writer accountable to actually finish.
As for death, well, Austin says “this is the ultimate deadline.” A practice of Austin is he reads obituaries every day of people who recently passed away. He reads them to see who they were and how they lived.
“The thing about obituaries, they aren’t actually about death, they’re about their life lived. You get to read what they did with their life and it helps me wonder what I’m going to do with mine.”
Death for many can be hard to talk about or even depressing. However, Austin thinks that reading obituaries is a great way to approach the idea of death, through the lives of real people who lived. Just as important, to gain the motivation to start and finish.
The certainty is we will all die some day. That will be the ultimate deadline. So that thing you’re delaying to start, now is the time to start. The strained relationship with your friend or sibling needs repair. You have an amazing side hustle, than it’s time to get serious and grow it (only if you want that).
More importantly, if you are stuck in life and don’t know what to do or what you want, maybe you can read the obituaries. Touch the lives of people you don’t know, so that you can get a sense on how to live your own. Maybe, this can be the motivation you need. Here, I’ll share my Mother’s. May her life touch yours:
My Mom - Teresa Mercado.
Thought Provoking Question 1 : What are you missing out on in life?
Dan Roman is a Husband, Father, and writer that releases a daily blog. A quick read on sharing wisdom and asking though-provoking questions.
What are your thoughts on this piece? Comment below…
The chances I do not take are what may be missing; however, I dont know if I call them missing.
The obituary was nice and sweet :)