Read Obits in the Morning
Lifehacker readers love the good to do list. We are single-minded and we like to feel the sense of accomplishment .
But what happens if you don’t make the progress you would like? When you get a little lost and can’t figure out what to do next?
One way to ground yourself, writes Jocelyn K. Gley, host of the Hurry Up Slow podcast about being productive and fulfilling life, is to seek inspiration in unexpected places.
“Designer Myra Kalman once told me that she likes to start her day with reading obituaries,” writes Glei . “It sounds painful, but she does it to get inspiration and inspiration. Ask: what is the measure of life? “
She writes that it’s a way to empower yourself to track progress in your life that matters. Even if we really know what we want to do, the sheer number of steps and moving parts involved in doing so can seem overwhelming. How to cut through the little things and understand what matters ?
As I hunched over my computer looking through my email, I try to remember this. I want my headstone to say:
TEAR
Jocelyn Kendall Gley
“She checked all of her email.”
Or do I want to strive for something more?
And you? Do you want to be the person who regularly reaches zero inbox, or do you want to achieve something more meaningful in your one wild and precious life ?
And you will also learn a lot about the lives of people around the world who have changed the world for the better throughout their lives. One of the recent obituaries that stuck with me concerns Joachim Ronneberg , a WWII resistance fighter who spearheaded a raid that thwarted Hitler’s attempts to create an atomic bomb. But you don’t have to read obituaries about people with big, “famous” lives. People everywhere have done wonderful things and have lived fulfilling lives.
Earlier this week, I thought that another way to frame this is to think about what people / occupations / places / things / achievements this year, 2019, you will want to think about in the years to come. What do you want to tell your children or grandchildren about what happened back in 2019? That you took the risk of finding a new job or went to a country that you have always been curious about? That this year you made a serious commitment to someone or left a certain memory of your brother or sister?
The morning as you prepare for your day and ponder all the things you need to do is the perfect time to read your obituary and meditate. As Gley writes, this is an opportunity to identify “meaningful metrics and milestones that will enable you to participate in the long-term creative projects that matter most to you.”