Chapter 15 of the One Life Manifesto: One.
Let’s talk about your one life. You have one life to make an impact in this world. One life to make a difference. The majority of people in this world are mediocre and live mediocre lives. They know it deep down and wish they could do better. They have lives filled with regret. There is only a small percentage of people who are truly fulfilled with their one life. You should be grateful that you have an opportunity to live in this world and that you have the opportunity to make a difference.
I encourage you to think about your one life. Figure out how you want to spend it day-to-day, week-to-week, month-to-month, year-to-year. Then decide, is this how you want to continue or do you want to change for better. Because this is your one and only life. Start thinking in terms of an end point. Once you hit 80 or 90 years of age, how will you look back? So, my question to you is: do you want to pass the time or do you want to get ahead of the time? Make an impact with the time that you have. Tomorrow it could all be over. Can you honestly look back and say you left your mark on this world? Are you leaving in peace? Get unsatisfied with your current situation. Get hungry to make your situation better. Grow constantly. Don’t slow down.
Once you finish your education there is no incentive to continue learning. You define your next learning stages. You define the remainder of your one life. Don’t waste it away. You may feel that you have wasted away to this point. But if you are listening to this, you now have an opportunity today to turn that page and open a new chapter. A fresh chapter of your life that has meaning. If you are tired, wake up. You have many years under the grave to sleep and think about nothing. While you have this limited time, wake up and make a difference. Change the world with your one life.
Maybe you are religious and you feel that there is an afterlife or there is a second life beyond the grave, and that is acceptable. However, that is no excuse to just give up and pass the time. You should make the most out of your current life because you don’t know what circumstances unfold. Once you are under the grave you know what happens. There are circumstances that are outside of our control and we are best served to give our best while we are here.
Your one life is an opportunity to love and care for others. To be healthy, to just be the ultimate person that you can be. I talk about this in other chapters about how you can live an optimal life. I hope that this book helps you and provides you with the tools to make your one life count for something. Today you are filled with knowledge and more education than any generation before you. You have the opportunity to really excel at understanding who you are and improving yourself and continually learning about what you are capable of. There are endless resources for you at your fingertips.
You can be that brilliant individual who really changes the world as long as you get focused on the time that you have. You have just one life and I would hate for you to pass it by and just let it disappear with the tick-tock of the clock. I would hate for you to just watch as the second hand goes around and around and then look back and not be happy with what you have done. When you look back I would like for you to be happy. I would like for you to say: yes, I am content with whatever I have done. If you do that, you look back and you say: yes this is fantastic. I am happy for you and if currently you are happy with your one life then continue. Don’t slow down. Keep going and if you are reading this and you are thinking: I need to make change. Do it. Start now.
Stop wasting time. That is your one precious resource which you cannot get back from your one life. Time will always be against you unless you make it work for you. Get clear on what it is that you want in your life. Get clear on what it is that will make you fulfilled, happy, successful as your definition. Once you do that, your one life will really bring meaning to you. So, this is my manifesto on the one life that you have to live. Make it count.