The practice of keeping mortality consciously present transforms how we live. Death isn't an abstraction to fear—it's the ultimate advisor that cuts through pettiness and forces authentic prioritization. Rather than paralyzing us, regular contemplation of mortality clarifies what matters and inspires action aligned with our deepest values.

Mistakes are actions you took and wish you could change. Regrets are actions you didn't take and wish you had. This distinction matters because the two require different responses—and at the end of life, regrets about what we failed to attempt hurt far more than mistakes we made while trying.

You have roughly 4,000 weeks if you live to 80. This isn't depressing—it's liberating. Accepting finitude lets you stop trying to "do it all" and instead choose what matters. Atelic activities—done for their own sake rather than to accomplish goals—restore meaning that productivity culture strips away.

Time is elastic within finitude. When deeply engaged in challenging activity, hours pass like minutes. In anxiety or boredom, minutes stretch into hours. This subjective malleability of time reveals that how we experience our finite existence matters as much as how long we live. Attention shapes temporal perception.