"Do not act as if you had ten thousand years to throw away. Death stands at your elbow. Be good for something while you live and it is in your power."
Jonathan Larson spent seven years writing a musical. He lived in a tiny apartment with no heat, working at a diner in New York City to pay his bills. He poured every ounce of his energy into his show. The musical was called Rent.
At last, it was finally ready, and the Off-Broadway premiere was scheduled for January 26, 1996. Larson went to the final dress rehearsal the night before. Then, he went home and died suddenly of an undiagnosed aortic aneurysm. He was thirty-five years old.
He never saw opening night, or the show win a Pulitzer Prize, or any of its run on Broadway for twelve years. But he finished the work. He didn't wait until he was older, or until he had more money. He wrote the music while he still had the time.
Marcus Aurelius reminds us that the clock is ticking. We act like we have an endless supply of tomorrows. We put off writing the book. We delay the apology. We tell ourselves we'll start the business next year.
Death stands at your elbow. You don't have ten thousand years. The time to take action is right now. You only control this exact moment. Use it.
Errors & Corrections
- Don't wait for the perfect time. The perfect time is a myth. You'll never be completely ready. Start the project today with the tools you have.
- Don't mistake planning for doing. We buy notebooks and map out massive five-year plans. That feels like progress, but it isn't. Action is the only metric that matters. Put the pen down and execute.
- Don't defer your life. You say you'll relax when you retire. You say you'll travel when the kids are grown. You might not get there. Live your actual life today.
Applications to Modern Life
Work
You have a great idea for a new product feature. You keep it in your head. You wait for the quarterly review to bring it up. Stop waiting. Build a rough prototype this afternoon, and show it to your manager tomorrow. Speed of execution wins.
Leadership
A toxic employee is ruining the team culture. You know you need to fire them. You put it off because you hate conflict. You hope the problem resolves itself. It won't. The delay just hurts your good employees. Have the hard conversation today.
Athleticism & Sport
You want to run a marathon next year. You spend three hours researching the optimal training shoes online. You haven't run a single mile. Close the laptop, put on your old shoes, and go outside. Run for ten minutes right now.
Politics
You complain about the local city council. You say you might run for office someday. Someday is not a day of the week. Go to the city website today, download the filing paperwork, and start collecting signatures.
Social Media
We waste hours scrolling through other people's accomplishments. We watch them build things. We watch them travel. Put the phone in a drawer. Stop consuming the actions of strangers and start producing your own actions.
Interpersonal Relationships
You had a stupid argument with a friend five years ago. You haven't spoken since. You keep thinking you'll call them eventually. Call them today. Send a simple text. You don't know how many days either of you has left.
Maxims
- You don't have ten thousand years.
- The clock is running.
- Action is the only metric.
In-depth Concepts
Memento Mori (Remember Death)
This is the engine of Stoic action. Remembering that you'll die isn't supposed to make you sad. It's supposed to make you urgent. It burns away the trivial distractions and focuses your mind on what actually matters.
Praxis (Action)
The Stoics believed philosophy was useless if it stayed in your head. Praxis is the application of theory to reality. This is why Stoic philosophy has been so enduring and remains popular even today. Stoic philosophy is philosophy applied in action, not just theoretical meanderings. You can read all the books in the world, but if you don't take action, you learn nothing.