Before I begin, my sincere apologies for using the same title as a story published in the recent edition of The Economist magazine. The context, however, is completely different from the magazine story. While the magazine story talks about the increase in the life expectancy of people due to advancements in medical science, medical infrastructure, nursing care, life care plans etc., this article aims to emphasize the importance of enhancing the quality of life by consciously and intentionally progressing each day developing yourself thereby resulting in a life well lived and consequently a better death when the time comes.

My apologies also on sounding negative while talking about Death when there is so much to talk about Life itself. Concepts of life and death are much larger subjects and are much beyond my intellectual prowess and I would not even attempt to comment about them. The fact, however, remains that death is something which is inevitable for each and everyone of us. And death would always be better if our life has been lived better. So while Death is inevitable, Bad Death Is Not.
 
Life would never be perfect and waiting for the perfect moment to arrive before we start would result in we never starting at all. We always wait for the right moment to come when we will have spare time, when we will have enough funds to commit, when the kids will be settled, when family responsibilities are fulfilled, when office commitments are over. Life is constantly happening but we keep on postponing actions waiting for the perfect conditions, perfect moment and perfect resources to line up before we start acting. Don’t wait to start until the perfect moment arrives. The perfect moment may or may not arrive. After all, there is no finish line on the journey of personal growth and development and there will always be potential to improve each day.
 
We must change our actions if we want our results to change. That’s probably the biggest roadblock in our growth journey. We want things to change but we don’t want to change ourselves. The three things which hold us from change are laziness, fear, and habit.
 
Each one of us is intelligent enough to understand what contributes to our growth and what doesn’t. The problem is that we don’t act and the majority of the time it is nothing but our laziness to act. We prefer sitting in front of the idiot box popping junk food inside us or spend time addicted to social media when there are other more important avenues deserving our attention. It is high time, we bring the action into our lives. Always remember, if you don’t have a plan for your life, someone else does, and guess what, you would then be an enabler on their growth journey rather than working on your growth journey.
 
Fear of failure is another big phobia afflicting most of us. In the words of Colin R. Davis, “The road to Success and the road to Failure are almost exactly the same.” This statement is so true. There is no success without failing on the way. There are no overnight successes. We must go through the painful process of falling and then picking ourselves up to fall again and again and then getting up. There are numerous examples all around us who failed repeatedly, went through disappointments but kept the determination to fight back and succeed.
 
Let’s consider a few examples: Oprah Winfrey, probably the most famous TV personality today whose talk shows are popular around the world was fired from her first job stating that she was not fit for TV. Legend has it that Walt Disney was rejected 302 times for funding before he could secure financing for the first Disneyland. He was also fired from his job because his employers didn’t consider him to be creative enough. J.K. Rowling who rose to stardom with the Harry Potter series had a difficult financial condition and was barely able to meet her expenses. She couldn’t afford a laptop and had to type out her manuscripts each time she had to go to a publisher trying her luck to get her story published. She was rejected 12 times before one publisher finally agreed to publish it. Imagine what if she would have stopped after 8, 10, or even the 12th rejection. Since she still tried the 13th time that the world could see the Harry Potter coming alive. The examples are numerous and all around us. So don’t be afraid of failure. Failing means you are working towards something worthwhile.
 
The third thing which holds us from achieving our true potential is the habits which reinforce our self limiting beliefs and perceived incompetencies that we put upon us. In the words of John Dryden, “We first make our habits, and then our habits make us.” Over a period, we become so programmed to live a certain way of life that despite that way of life takes us downhill, we are not ready to bring fruitful changes that can take us uphill. Most people in the world have Uphill Hopes and Downhill Habits. Downhill habits can be anything such as always being argumentative and not able to build connections and relationships with the right enablers. Or it could be spending your time in the company of people who are not encouraging your growth but are taking you backward. Or it could be indulging into too much fat food or excessive alcohol resulting in health issues which ultimately prevents you from reaching your potential. Many intelligent and smart people have had to face difficult times by overspending into debt. Losing temper too soon, getting worried quickly or remaining stressed always doesn’t let your brain to direct the right energy to achieve your potential. Smoking or overuse of drugs could be another downhill habit. There are examples galore and I never intended to list them all here. But the intent is to establish the fact that success, growth, and development are all uphill milestones and would need discipline and uphill habits.
 
All these three kinds of obstacles viz. laziness, fear of failure, and downhill habits can easily be overcome just that we need to be conscious and intentional about it. The faith in our abilities, a positive self image, and the desire to achieve our true potential is what is needed to have a fulfilled and enriched life.
 
A life well lived is the only guarantee whereby we can leave the right legacy and while death is inevitable, bad death is not!!!
 
– NALIN CHANDNA