time

Why I Can’t Stop Thinking About Death & Time

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Every now and then, I get a few fresh epiphanies about this journey we call, life. Some that end up embedding itself more dramatically within my moral compass,motivation, and foundation of daily thoughts, and some…that just drift away like a mountain of tumbleweed in the desert. Recently, I’ve found that writing them out not only creates greater capacity in my brain to think, but to also help me understand these epiphanies on a more tangible, actionable level.

Here are 2 epiphanies that have taken residence in my mind every day and why it’s been so pivotal in my life.

(Sidenote: Albert Of The Future – As you’re reading this, I hope you are doing so without regret, hopefully. (:D) )

1. I’m Going To Die Someday

Everything I want to say about this point can be succinctly summarized in Steve Job’s commencement speech that he gave back in 2005. It goes:

“Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life.

Almost everything–all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure–these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important.

Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet, death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it, and that is how it should be, because death is very likely the single best invention of life. It’s life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new.”

For most of my life, the concept of Death frightened me. There was something so intangible and unknown about Death that numbed me in my place- unable to think, move, and act in any way.

Death also has a close relative named Fear. Fear does the dirty work that Death initially creates in the hearts and minds of people. It takes the unknown element that Death represents and nullifies any thoughts for hope and optimism, leaving only trails of pessimism, inaction, and confusion.

But recently, I’ve tried adopting a different dogma.

I’ve chosen to embrace Death and to mentally accept the inevitable truth that yes, I will die someday. While I may never truly overcome the Fear that is closely associated with Death, I choose to allow it to steer me towards a new motivation. That my time here on Earth is indeed limited, and that I need to do a better job in making the most of it.

My Amazing Stick Figure Drawing On Death & Fear

A pledge to myself – Be more urgent, be more fearless, and be more every day. 

2. The Most Irreplaceable Thing In Life: Time

I had a few questions that I couldn’t stop thinking about these past couple months about Time.

What would I do if I had more time?

How can I impact this world if I had more time?

How much happier would I, my family, and friends be if I had more time?

How different would my life be if I had more time…and how much am I willing to sacrifice in return for it?

Time, the only thing in this world that you can’t ever have more of. Once it passes, it’s gone, forever.

When I started to really think about the answers to these questions, I couldn’t help but feel frustrated. Frustrated that it took me this long to realize just how important time is…frustrated that I probably could’ve utilized each 24 hours of my life a little better in the past (esp. in college, yikes)…and frustrated just thinking about how much time we spend our lives at work.

I mean, have you ever just calculated how much time we spend in our lifetime at work? It’s crazy!

Take this calculation into consideration:

A man expected to live till age 78 will have lived a total of 683,760 hours. If he starts work at age 22 after college, works 37.5 hours per week until age 65 with three weeks vacation per year (that’s being generous with America’s standard), he will work a total of 106,575 hours during his lifetime, or roughly 15.5 percent of his life.

**Quick! Be mindful of how you are feeling right now. Analyze…analyze, ok onwards.**

When I came to this realization, it freaked me out. 40+ hours for 42 more years until I retire…there’s something wrong with that.

That’s a lot of time that could have been used to explore this beautiful world, becoming a masterful Salsa dancer, authoring multiple books, speaking at conferences, starting nonprofit organizations…the list is endless!

And sure, I know there’s a bunch of counterarguments that could be said on this, (do what you love at work!) but the truth is, I’m just impatient and there’s just too much that I want to do and see before I turn 30.

So now what?

Solution: Build a profitable, automated business and work my BUTT off to make it happen. No. Matter. What.

Sounds simple enough, but boy – has it been a struggle these past couple months and will be a struggle for the next x plus years. But it’s a different and refreshing kind of struggle this time. It’s a struggle towards something I truly want and it’s a struggle that I can’t wait to see how it reshapes me as a businessman, leader, and individual.

A quote to leave myself and whoever else is reading this post with that I think encompasses what I’m trying to say on time:

““Entrepreneurship is living a few years of your life like most people won’t so you can spend the rest of your life like most people cant.”
– Warren G. Tracy’s student”

Conclusion

Steve Jobs had the right idea when he came to these realizations of Death & Time. And although we are on very different trajectories towards our ideas of success, I can only hope that I can contribute back to this world as much as he had.

One step at a time.

Cheers,

Albert

The Most Important Number That Every College Grad Needs To Care More About

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I’ve never been a magician with numbers.

In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever gotten anything higher than a B++ (the extra + for emphasis) in any of my math classes.

But theres always been a number that I’ve been acutely aware with.

It’s a number that’s more often than not surprised people.

It’s a number that motivates me to do better, to do more, to aim higher.

It’s a number that constantly has me on my tippy toes, always dancing around with a sense of urgency.

Can you guess what that number is?

That number is my age.

At 22, with 23 quickly approaching on the horizon, I couldn’t help but reflect back on the past 8 years of my life. Phrases like, “It Just Seemed Like Yesterday, and “Where Did The Time Go?  have been repeated again and again with each passing stages of our lives.

In high school, they told me live it up in college because there will never be a time like that again. And I did.

During my Junior year of college, they told me make the most of my Twenties because there will never be a time like that again. And I am. (or so I hope I am)

But it feels different this time. And the fact is, it is different. Prior to my graduation date back in April, I, along with the rest America have been hand-held and marched through an institutionalized style of learning since we were wittle, tiny, kindergardeners. And it wasn’t until relatively recently where they finally let our hands go…into an opportunistic, competitive, yet awesomely beautiful world. But if there’s ever time to learn from the mistakes of the past, now is the time to correct them and to turn them into workable tools for our mindset.

And what are those mistakes?

Purposely allowing time to be squandered on insignificant investments that in hindsight now, have disintegrated to nothing but a small hole in my monetary, relationship, and memory wallet. In high school, I devoted hours on hours perfecting ways to get a “Headshot” which usually ended in me rage quitting. In college, I made an internal pact with myself to watch every single minute of every single Lakers game. In case you didn’t know, a regular NBA basketball game runs 90 minutes long, (that’s without commercials, stoppage of place, halftime, etc.) so long would be a massive understatement.

But I’d like to think that I’ve grown wiser. To realize that 23 will quickly turn into 24, then 25. And another 5 years, just like it has recently, will fly by again into 30.  And walla! my Twenties will essentially be over.

Now, I do apologize for the depressive tone that I might be painting this timeline with, but I do hope you can understand the deeper objective at hand here.

Each of these next years, all 7 of them, can and will have some of the most significant impacts on our lives moving forward. The habits that we establish, the YOLO trips we take to a foreign country, the careers that we build, the relationships that we get into…all have a certain degree of influence for the rest of our lives.

And what an INCREDIBLE asset it is to have.

We have more time than we ever will to pursue a new hobby, to write a book, to do something uncomfortable…

We have more freedom to become who we want to be, go where we want to go…

We have more room for failure to think in “worst case scenarios” and still be able to recover…

Friends, we have the freaking Internet. We have more access to technology than any other generations before us!

They say that we shouldn’t compare ourselves to others’ success because by doing so, we lose perspective and depreciate the good things in our lives. But like anything else in our lives, how we filter that information and use it towards our benefit is up to us. Which for this very reason is why I always get irked when friends tell me that I am doing GREAT for my age. Though I genuinely appreciate their intentions, I just can’t help but gaze in wonderment at this list of:  Forbes 30 Under 30 Who Are Changing The World. Or networking with Stanford undergrads whose drive and mission to build Silicon Valley’s next hottest iPhone app has left me speechless, multiple times. Or gushing over all the inspirational National Geographic travel videos of explorers who go on epic trips to unknown caves. THESE are the people whom I’m placing myself in competition with. These are the people I put my measuring stick against. And why shouldn’t you?

Four questions to consider:

  • Define for yourself what the meaning of success is. And ask yourself, “How and What are you going to do in these next years to achieve that definition of success?
  • What is the number 1 thing on your mind that you WISH you can do but just don’t have the time/energy/money to do? Now think of the worst case scenario if you ended up doing that. Did it match your expectations?
  • Take a look at your current circumstance, every part of it. Now ask yourself WHY you are where you are/you are doing the things you are doing, etc. And now ask yourself WHY four more times till you really dig down into the root of things. (It might scare you)
  • Is there someone whom you just admire and just hope you can be some day? Take a look at where they are when they were your age and see if what you are doing now measures up to that.

Friends, just do something with your Twenties and do it to the best of your focused, creative abilities.

Take a risk.

We can’t all stay 22 forever. (Unless you are Taylor Swift… :P)

-AL