Are you Dying to Live?

The ultimate reality is that death is the one universal thing we will all experience. The fact that our life is perishable makes it precious.

Are you treating your life -- and the other people in it -- as precious? If you died today, what type of evidence would be left behind? Would it show that you engaged life at the 100% level or that you just plodded through? Would excuses be written on your headstone?

So many individuals engage life at half-throttle, with little will, ambition, impact, or contribution. They blame others for their life circumstances and believe their situation is all other people's fault.

If you actually embrace this belief, you have relinquished your life's direction -- and your outcomes -- to others. Individuals who consistently play the victim end up as persecutors: blaming, justifying, and complaining about their lot in life.

Do you know people who complain about their lives but who aren't willing to do anything about it? What a powerless, weak position.

If something happened to you today, would you feel satisfied that you had done your best? What have you put off for weeks, months, or years -- just because? What is on your unfinished or not-started list?

Most of us will get wake-up calls in our life to confirm whether we are truly living at a 100%. Here is one of mine.

As I stood outside the ER door, my tears dripped all over my cell phone as I called my family to inform them what was happening. At that very moment, my 9-year-old son's life was in danger.

He had been sick for three days and it had become obvious he had more than the flu. We had taken him to the clinic, where the doctor instructed us to go to Emergency at once. My son was being brave but became more and more listless as he started to have severe pain.

The attending surgeon confirmed it was his appendix. Concerned it had already or almost burst, the surgeon ordered immediate surgery. It went well but his appendix had already begun to abscess. Poison from the appendix or infection causes the greatest risk. For over 48 hours at the hospital, we watched over him, concerned that more complications could arise.

He is now home from hospital and my commitment to live life full on is even greater than before. But the value of my son's life has become even more precious -- and I didn't think that was possible!

Many people don't live full on because they have not been able to clarify what is most important for them. They may be living their life through other people's eyes or expectations and they've been burdened by confusion.

Life is finite and fragile. Are you making the most of your life?

Is there evidence you are dying to live?

If not, what are you going to do about it?

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This Week's Action Steps

Dying to Live

1. Is there enough evidence to prove you are dying to live?

2. If I asked your friends how you live your life and to assess your attitude toward your life, what would they say?

3. If you died today, would you feel you had contributed to your life at 100%?

4. If the answer to the last three questions is not what you want it to be, what needs to change?

5. Make a list of all the things you've been wanting to do, but have put off for whatever reason.

6. Review the list and challenge yourself to see if you really, really want to achieve the things you have listed. Sometimes we can outgrow a desire or discover it was never our real desire in the first place.

7. Clarify your values, personal strengths, self-confidence, and health.

8. After you have completed Action Steps 1 through 7, take a breath and assign each item a "priority" number. Starting on one or two items is way more productive than starting -- and potentially quitting -- all of them.

9. Don't wait until a loved one is ill or you get sick. Wake up to the precious and perishable nature of life. Do it now -- so that everyone you meet knows you are dying to live!

Until next time, keep "Living On Purpose",

Ken Keis