A Friendly Reminder We Are All Expiring | Vol. 12
Hey there,
What a title to kick off the 4th of July holiday, right?!? Over the last few days I've kept thinking about Thursday's episode of The Daily PRST, "We Are All Dying". In the past, I would not have wanted to think about this despite having Ryan Holiday's Memento Mori (Remember Death) image tattooed on my right forearm. Death was something I was afraid of and while I'm not thrilled to think about my mortality I've moved on from being afraid to die to being thrilled to LIVE.
When I first meet with new clients at RLS Wealth I ask them a version of George Kinder's (the godfather of financial life planning) three questions. All three center around our mortality and the final asks what would we regret, who did we not become, what did we not do if today was our last day? I find the answers and the corresponding conversation around the three questions tells me a lot about what is most important to the client and from there we can take a look at how the are allocating not only their dollars but also their time and energy. From there, the planning begins...
Why Do We Wait?
Why do we wait until we are faced with a terminal diagnosis to truly start living?
Why aren't we spending our time, energy, and dollars in a way that would allow the answers to my three questions to have little regrets and changes?
We may never be able to fully eliminate regret and do everything exactly the way we would like but we should focus on trying to do as much of those things as possible. Accomplishing this does not come without some short term sacrifice (I say short term because what is "sacrificed" is not nearly as important as we think), a little discomfort, and some planning but it is totally doable.
I've done it.
I've helped others do it.
But you have to understand what you really want out of this life and thinking about shortening the timeframe you have is the best way I've found to uncover what you care about the most.
Passion. Relationships. Self. Time.
I'm willing to bet the majority of the answers to the questions about your mortality will fall into one of these four categories...the four categories that make up PRST.
Not a coincidence--these don't exist, remember?
So instead of waiting for a life-changing or ending diagnosis from a doctor, remember that we are all terminal---we are all one second, minute, hour, day, week, year closer to the end of this life. What would you change about your current life to allow you to better maximize the time you have left? What would you do different to minimize any regret you would have if today was your last day?
If you're struggling with to find thee answers or aren't sure how to make those changes, there are 3 spots left for the beta PRST Collective that will begin in mid-August (final date to be released this week). If you'd like to join us or find out a little more, fill out this form and I'll set up some time to chat with you to see if it would be helpful for your Pursuit.
I'm excited to go on this journey with the first five Collective participants and would love to help you minimize your regret and maximize your living!
Let's get to The Weekly PRST...
Why I Knew We'd Make It Home From NYC
Just like my return flight home from Atlanta a couple of weeks ago, Roman and I had an adventurous return home from NYC. We were visiting family in New Jersey and were to leave from Newark Friday evening when I got the text saying our flight had been cancelled and we were placed on a flight the following evening.
After some research and checking around I was able to get us a flight home Saturday morning at 6:40 AM out of LaGuardia. We took the train back to New York, stayed at hotel close to the airport, and were up at 4:00 AM to make sure we wouldn't risk missing our flight due to security or anything else out of our control. I felt confident our flight out of NYC and the connecting flight out of Baltimore would get us home without any issues.
In today's travel environment I'm not sure confidence is enough.
I happened to look at the flight numbers for the two flights and immediately knew we'd be making it home. The first flight 4444 and the second 4004---I looked up the meaning of each and this is what I found:
Seeing those meanings was all I needed to know that we'd be home on time...and we were.
Once you are open to receive signs, they begin to occur more often. Whenever signs are presented to me it's not that I went looking for them but that I was open to receiving them and aware when the show up.
This Week's Top PRST
The most listened to episode this week was Thursday's episode of The Daily PRST "We Are All Dying"
PassionRelationshipsSelfTime
Each week this section will consist of curated blog posts, articles, podcasts, videos, etc. that address Passion, Relationships, Self, and Time--the components of PRST.
Note: Due to the longer start to this week's email, I'll be keeping the summary of each section to a minimum 😀
P
This week while Roman and I were in NYC I saw on Instagram that Chris Brickley, the focus of an early Monday Motivation, was going to be at the NBA Store in Manhattan while we were in town. He was doing a meet and greet--purchasing this hat for his brand (a passion project of his) Color Blind was the price of admission. Unfortunately, we weren't able to make the meet and greet since we were at the NYSE for the closing bell but we still decided to purchase a hat to support him.
I share this only to continue the Monday Motivation to show how Chris continues to follow his passions and the opportunities that have come from it. Not only is Color Blind continuing to grow and spread a positive message but it earned a collaboration with Lids to make this hat...all because Chris puts himself out there, works hard, and follows his passion.
I also wanted to buy this hat as a template for a future PRST hat--I have a cool idea in mind inspired by the creativity of it.
R
As I continue down the Rich Roll rabbit hole after finishing his book Finding Ultra--I actually listened to it during my recent trips to St. Louis and NYC I have been checking out his podcasts and there is a great section of this episode with his wife about "wealth is the company you keep" as Rich says. I've got the video ready to start at the beginning of the section (minute 18:18) and it ends around 25:27. The rest of the conversation is really good but it moves away from a discussion about relationships.
S
Sticking with Rich Roll, I highly recommend his book Finding Ultra. I enjoyed his personal story of finding his way through his youth, becoming a division 1 swimmer, overcoming alcoholism and addiction, finding Ironman challenges, and tapping into his spiritual being to create his life that would answer my three questions with minimal regrets. As I mentioned above, I listened to the book but I also purchased a copy--mainly because the last fourth of it talked about his spiritual journey which resonated the most with me and will lead to more content for PRST.
Rich also switched to a plant-based lifestyle so there is a lot of pro-plant-based living in the book but I did not find it distracting to the message or his story. I know food is religion and discussions around it can be a turn off for some but don't let that keep you from reading/listening to the book. FWIW, I admire his passion for plant-based living and how he shares the benefits--it changed his life so he feels the need to tell others about it in case it can change theirs.
T
This Week Of PRST
The Daily PRST.
Monday: Replay Of From Mopping Floors To MVP
Tuesday: The PRST Collective
Wednesday: Safe Is A Cop Out
Thursday: We Are All Dying
Check out all of last week's episodes here.
The PRST. No episode this week---we'll be back this Friday with a new one.
PRST Shorts. I'm STILL close to having the next one ready. I finished getting enough film for the next short and need to record the conversation to provide the audio. We're probably a couple of weeks away from the next one. For now, get caught up on the first three Shorts.
The Blog. No new post this week.
On Our PRST. You can get caught up by visiting the OOP page here.
