Memento Vivere By Coach Rico

Memento Vivere is a phrase meaning, “Remember to Live”. It is a term that go side by side with the phrase, Memento Mori meaning, “Remember that you will die”.  Among the two, Memento Vivere resonates with me the most since it reminds me to use my time more wisely and to live life to the fullest I can possibly can.

Let say, you are a kid on an enormous amusement park, but you only have one hour to stay. Since you could not possibly take all the rides, would you not just spend your time on the rides that you want, the ones that you have chosen important for you to experience?

Same goes with life my friend. It all depends on what you value more important. For example, we all need to work for money. We all need money for us to have security and to check all those listed in Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs for us and our family. But what do you value more? The money itself or the reason why you are earning the money in the first place which is to have a good life for you and your family? If your answer is the latter my friend, then would it not be more logical to not spend most of your time in producing money but in spending more of your time with your family and yourself?

Recently, was the week of my daughter’s first birthday. There was so many tasks and projects I was trying to finish faster at the office. Then, I was reminded of Memento Vivere while I was randomly browsing my phone. So I managed my time on what I value as more important in life and that is my baby daughter.

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How can we find what truly is important for the long term? I fond this few exercise to be helpful:

1. Tombstone Exercise

I learn this exercise from Kain Ramsey in Achology. You should check them out. It is a simple reflective activity called the Tombstone Exercise. All you need to do is to draw an empty tombstone. Imagine that that is your tombstone when you hit the dust. What would you want your close family and friends to write in that tombstone?

Would you want:

<Your Name Here> was a particularly good employee, never missed a working day in his life.

Or:

<Your Name Here> was an exceptionally good lawyer, her winning ratio is 10 is to 1.

Or possibly something so shallow since you are always all alone and nobody really knew you:

<Your Name Here> was a man who has a dog, a brown dog.

But how about if your family and friends would write:

<Your Name Here> was a man of integrity. An honest man. A good husband and a loving father. He was a man where his friend can relay on is times of need. We learned a lot of good life lessons from this man.

Or something like that. You choose my friend.

2. Ideal Future Self

Another exercise I found helpful is having the end goal in mind. I also, learned this in Achology. They are awesome; you should definitely check them out. This exercise is amazingly simple. Let me break it down step by step:

1. Imagine your IDEAL FUTURE SELF.
2. When making decisions keep you IDEAL FUTURE SELF in mind.

That is it. Envision the best version of yourself that you would be proud of. That ideal self which you want others to know and remember you. When you have your ideal future self in mind, your present actions and decisions can be easily based on achieving that version of yourself.

Here are some example of an ideal future self but feel free to come up with yours, obviously.

• A well-loved father who are always supportive to his children.
• An accomplished doctor who help a lot of people and is respected and love by the community.
• A priest, who believed and change the lives of many people that society have already given up on.

Now, in having that ideal future self in mind, we then base our everyday decision with it. You spend more time with our children and always encourage them; you further study medicine and perform charitable works using your skills; you encourage and teach people who have lost their way.

It is said the time is the great equalizer for us all. We all have 24 hours in a day. Every one of us. It all depends on how we spend that 24 hours each day until our clocks run out. Would you waste most of it on things with lesser importance and wake up one day realizing that you only have a few clocks left? Or would you spend it wisely on what really matter?