Memento Mori

Last week we talked about Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and how we tend to Settle in the Middle. This week will be a bit of an extension of that as we tackle some things that will break the typical “life script”.

Memento mori (Latin: “remember that you have to die”) is the medieval Latin Christian theory and practice of reflection on one’s life. It’s intended to challenge us to review our daily habits and strive for something more — something unique and purposeful. After all, a new day is never promised. This week’s piece is about…

1. Moving Relationships to the Right
2. Owning the Day to Own Our Life
3. Breaking Life’s Scripted Nature

RELATIONSHIP BUILDING

Move Relationships to the Right. Establishing daily habits to deepen relationships might be something that very few think about. We interact with people each day, but do we really consider how those interactions might be able to have a positive impact on another person?

We should think of relationships on a spectrum. To the far left are fundamentally “strangers” (or in the pictorial example below, “Co-Workers”) and then to the far right are “Life-long Friends”. In our daily interactions — whether at the office, in social settings, at church, or in passing — we should always be striving to move relationships to the right along the spectrum toward a place of greater authenticity.

While we’re not meant to form life-long friendships with all those we encounter, we’ll find that some surprisingly cool things will happen if we get in the habit of authentically trying to move relationships to the right along the spectrum. We’ll get to know things about people we didn’t know otherwise. For example, when was the last time you snuck a peek at the name tag of someone who was serving you, used their name in a sentence, and asked them how their day was going? We are humans, and as such we love hearing our own names. You might just surprise the person, and although there is no guarantee that the interaction will “change someone’s life”…if we all did it habitually, the world would be a better place.

**Action: Decide to insert some sort of daily habit into your interactions with others. Make it a goal to move relationships to the right through those interactions.**

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT

Owning the Day to Own Our Life. “Our lives change when our habits change” is a favorite quote of mine by speaker and author Matthew Kelly. We cannot expect to do the same thing every day and have a different result. If we want to alter the trajectory of our lives, we can make a radical change like moving to a different state/country, selling all our belongings and becoming a monk….or we can focus on making small changes in our everyday life that lead to much bigger things.

I want to introduce you to a book called “Own the Day, Own Your Life” by Aubrey Marcus. Admittedly I am only about halfway through it, but I am really enjoying it and thought I’d share it with you. Own the Day, Own Your Life is a “choose your own adventure”-style book for those who want to be one step closer to super-human. It’s for the everyman and everywoman looking for pragmatic and effective strategies that empower them to enjoy life, take charge of their health, and own the day. Afterall, you can’t “own your life” without “owning a single day” first.

**Action: Pick up a copy of “Own the Day, Own Your Life” and implement a change or two that will increase the overall quality of your life.**

PERSONAL FINANCE

Breaking Life’s Scripted Nature. Typically I read books to push me to make changes in my life in one way or another. Most of the time I learn something or I am pushed to try something different. This next book I am recommending, however, challenged a huge part of my personal beliefs on life in general and specifically personal finance. Which at times made it difficult for me to read (or, in my case, listen to). The book is called, “Unscripted: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Entrepreneurship” by M.J. DeMarco. Don’t be turned off by the “Entrepreneurship” part of the title; this book is a must-read for everyone. The main premise of the book is a notion with which I am in 100% agreement: we are fed a consistent diet of the same scripted narrative….Get good grades > Go to college > Follow your passion into a career you love > Buy a house > Save, save, save > Hopefully retire after 40 years.

Unscripted does exactly what the extended title says. It delivers a heavy punch to the gut of the “scripted” life and will challenge many of the beliefs you have held as truth your entire life. I encourage you to keep reading even if something the author says flies in the face of your own money beliefs.

**Action: Read “Unscripted” and challenge your current mindset. It’s always good to stretch yourself a bit.**