‘No one wants to die’ said Steve Jobs in his Commencement address at Stanford in 2005.  He wanted to talk about death in order to motivate Stanford’s graduates to live their lives well.  And he wasn’t the only billionaire and globally influential figure to use mortality as motivation.  Sara Blakely, founder of Spanx, is another renown example.

I often recommend clients write their own obituary.  Whilst it is incredibly confronting, one thing we know for certain is that none of us get out of here alive.

Steve Jobs asked himself every morning: ‘If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?’  And if the answer was ‘no’ for too many days in a row, he’d do something about it.

So if you can’t face writing your obituary, perhaps start with asking yourself Steve Jobs’ daily question.  Life is not a dress rehearsal.