The Go-to Tool for Living the Life You Were Made to Live
Today’s episode is a reboot from the archive with a few upgrades. I decided to bring this one back after a recent experience as a vendor at the local Farmer’s Market. I wasn’t your typical vendor–a life coach amidst vegetable stands and woodworkers and handmade soap purveyors. And my offer wasn’t typical either: Answer one question to be entered in a raffle for a hundred dollar gift card. The question I posed to visitors to my booth was one that I also posed on this podcast a couple years ago, in episode 16. The conversations and insights that the question generated at the farmer’s market were so high-quality that it inspired me to bring it back to the front burner for all of us today.
Embrace the urgency of your mortality and unleash your true potential by challenging yourself with one question: If I only had five years to live, what would I start doing differently today?
In this episode:
Delve into the transformative impact of using mortality as a compass for living a life you’ll be outrageously proud of when you die.
Discover the value of imposing an artificial five-year expiration date on your life to clarify what matters most and make big changes.
Reflect upon what you would change if granted a limited time.
Begin steering your own course with purpose and courage, transforming discomfort into a catalyst for growth and adventure.
The power of a five-year timeline comes from the clarity it provides in defining what’s truly important in our lives. Imagining life with an explicit deadline compels us to take more risks, make bolder decisions, and pursue our desires and ambitions. A five-year timeline challenges the complacency of postponing dreams and aspirations. With five years to live, you can't just have an extended farewell tour! You still have to put food on the table and keep a roof over your head. How will you live? How will you use the time?
Tune in to the full (short!) episode for the whole story.
More Provisions for the Journey
If you have the guts to begin asking yourself this question and acting on your answers, you’ll be in for an exhilarating ride. AND, you’ll invite some other tough customers into your life in a new way--like fear, doubt, and new kinds of discomfort. As I said at the beginning, this simple question can revolutionize your life...and it’s far from easy to follow through on your answers. A few other episodes of Andrew Petty is Dying provide tools for mastering fear, doubt, and discomfort:
If fear is getting the best of you, listen to Ep. 005, How to Become the Boss of Your Fear: Bravery-building to Live With More Guts and Gusto.
If you’re tempted to feel like you don’t have much to offer, listen to Ep. 003, How to Turn Your Imperfections Into Superpowers: The Key to Unlocking Your Unique Purpose
If life’s stiff winds are threatening to sink your ship, listen to Ep. 012, How to Harness the Winds of Discomfort to Get Where You Want to Go: Becoming a Seasoned Sailor on the Seas of Life
I’m rooting for you. You have what it takes.
Remember, you are going to die. But you’re not dead yet. So get after it!
Seize the Moment: Tomorrow Never Comes
If something within you is awakening to the challenge posed by the 5-year question, then seize the moment. As Jon Ritner mentioned in the previous episode, exercise the 10-second rule and resolve to do something about it now. The first step could be as easy as connecting with me to schedule a free coaching session. Visit my website to do that today.
Also, summon the courage to participate in the one-day Andrew Petty Coaching event coming up on October 14, 2023, here in Steamboat Springs. Jon Ritner and I will host an immersive experience called The Best is Yet to Come: Rediscovering an Ancient Compass for a Life of Purpose and Adventure Today. You will emerge from that experience equipped to deploy the Hero’s Journey framework that Jon and I discussed in episode 86 to slay the dragons of fear, boredom, stuckness, and lack of purpose by accepting the call to adventure and becoming the hero in your own story.
If you haven’t listened to episode 86 yet, cue it up now, and stay tuned for more details about how to secure your spot at The Best is Yet to Come on October 14.
Thank you once again for your time and attention. I'm so glad you tuned in today. Don't forget to follow this show and share it with your friends, and I'll see you next time on Andrew Petty is Dying!
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Welcome! I invite you to browse the archive of past interviews with fascinating people and short, topical solo episodes--all designed to equip you with the mindset and the means to become the person you were made to be and live the life you were made to live with guts, gusto, and abandon. We flip the script by inviting our ancient foe, Death, to become an unlikely ally in our heroic journey to leave it all out on the field of life. Turns out, Mortality might just be the best motivator available--blasting us out of our ambivalence and complacency and toward the fullness of our potential.