Watch This Video Before You Die

you are going to die I don't say that to be morbid or sensational I say it as a reminder because as certain as we are of that truth most of us are living like that's not the case but when you truly wake up to the fact that you will die one day and make each decision through that lens you'll learn that death can teach you everything you need to know about living when you really digest your mortality you start to think okay what's really important to me that's been temptin back in 2006 Ben and his friends packed into a purple RV and went on a road trip that would change their lives the catalyst for the trip was a 150 year old poem called the Buried life so they actually were four lines that really kind of struck us but often in the world's most crowded streets but often in the din of strife there Rises an unspeakable desire after the knowledge of our buried life right and so the poem basically talks about how the day to day buries what you really want to do and you have moments when you're inspired but then that just gets buried by life and so we're like oh this guy is feeling the same way we feel and then we thought okay how do we unburied dreams and we decided to ask this question what do you want to do before you die because thought of death was the only thing that shook us enough into the present moment to actually realize what was truly important and when we asked ourselves that question there are many answers and so that's how the bucket list fault they made a bucket list of 100 things they wanted to do before they died and then embarked on a road trip to cross the items off the list some of the things were easy like going to Burning Man and others were a bit more far-fetched like playing basketball with President Obama we are standing outside of the White House along the way they decided to help strangers check items off their own lists they'd ask that question what do you want to do before you die if they could help others achieve that goal they would and as we traveled people started to hear about it and they would reach out I can't I saw this item on your list I can help you you know here's my dream can you guys help me and this two-week road trip it just continued and continued and continued and continued and ultimately all these things that we put on the list that we were convinced were impossible ultimately ended coming off the list it seems like a complete no-brainer right we're all gonna die someday so we might as well go after the things that we want most we should start that business run the marathon reconnect with a family member because well you've only got one shot we all know this so why aren't we taking action duh like right like we should obviously go after the things that we want to in life we obviously have a finite amount of time to do it in why isn't everybody creating bucket lists and going out and achieving and attempting to achieve all the things they've wanted to I think like it's human nature to put off our personal goals because if you think about there's no deadlines for personal goals but we have all these deadlines for every other goal set in our lives so we have you know we have work goals we have life goals and we have birthdays we have payments we always have something that has a deadline and then there's consequences if you don't hit that deadline with our personal goals we don't have a deadline so we're like I'll do it tomorrow I'll do it next week I'll do it next year until most people realize that crap like it's too late and there's this really interesting study from this psychologist at Cornell who basically talked with all these people on their deathbed and found that most people at the end of their life don't regret the things they did they regret the things they didn't do and 76% of people when they hit their deathbed their number one regret in their entire life is living a life someone else wanted for them not themselves as Ben and I talked I couldn't help but think of my wife Natalie earlier this year she decided to do something she never thought she'd have the courage to do she quit her job to try to start her own business what did you do to say that fear entered the equation would be a huge understatement fear swallowed her alive can't believe you did it it was terrifying I probably use the word terrifying like eighteen times when I quit there is a cost to going after your dreams you will likely face sleepless nights you'll have to sacrifice some weekends and vacations there will certainly be people who talk behind your back people who just don't get it and people that think you're an idiot for even trying there will be crippling self-doubt random bouts of panic and you'll come to the brink of quitting again and again these are all things that Natalie has faced over the past eight months and continues to face to this day yes there is a cost of chasing after your dreams but it pales in comparison to the cost of not doing it like if you are at a crossroads and you're thinking okay do I take a left turn and go after my dream or do I continue to go down this path because there are a lot of risks and I don't know if it's the right decision just picture yourself on your deathbed looking back onto this moment and will your future self regret not doing it and if yes then you have to do it for every person like Natalie that decides to act on their dreams there are thousands of others who shrink away from the challenge so I wanted to get real practical with Ben and ask him how you might be able to change your own story how should you go about writing a bucket list and how could you practically go after the things on it so first like kind of forget everything you know about a bucket list and I think that immediately we think about bucket lists we think of skydiving we think of you know adventure list items where adventure is one category of life there are twelve categories of life spiritual emotional physical material there's no rules for a bucket list the only rule is that it's important to you big or small so anything that you ever wanted to do or that's important to you you know it could be more time with your family you know it could be booking that trip with your family it could be building that huge thing and then write it down write it down because that makes it real write it down because then you feel accountable write it down because you're 42% more likely to achieve it once you write it down you want to share it right like you want to talk about those things that are important with your friends been suggested that it's important to be intentional with your outreach so if your dream is to make a feature-length documentary then think about who would be the best person to give you advice on that topic so who some of them might know documentary filmmaker that you can reach out to it's a hey listen this is something I really want to do really badly it's the most important thing in my life right now can I connect with your friend who's a documentary filmmaker just ask them a couple questions and then you can pretend that genie pops up and genie says it's a pretty good list I'm a genie I'm gonna help you do one thing on your list but by me helping you achieve that one thing you can never do anything else you wrote on your list so like what do you choose and that's the most important thing on your list and that's what you want to keep at the at the top death is a strange thing to think about we see it nearly every day in movies on TV shows and in the media sometimes it's comedic it's often dramatic but what we're seeing is usually the work of fiction even the deaths we see on the news are usually covered from thousands of miles away behind the comfort of our screens we're rarely confronted with death face-to-face you talk with people that have had a near-death experience or you know someone that they love has died and a lot of times they say you know everything changed for me but like Ben you don't need to come toe-to-toe with death to understand that truth you can be reminded of it through a 150 year old poem or maybe even through a YouTube video it takes one moment one decision and a shift in perspective to change your life just remember you won't be able to get there alone the only way we cross things off our list is through the help of other people all right like it was literally people coming to us saying hey I can help you with this you want to write a bowl my uncle has a bull ranch you want to make a toast a stranger's wedding my friends getting married I can get you in you want to play basketball with President Obama you know maybe I can put word into a senator just walk done the more of those big list items that ultimately come to fruition you suddenly have this moment where you're like oh my god I can do anything you know and it changes your DNA like it actually changes the makeup of how you view life and then it's not can I do it it's do I want to do it and I know it's gonna take a lot of work but [ __ ] kind of work but I can do it if I want so now I need to just decide is this something that's really really important to me okay [Music] now it's your turn I want you to take the next 30 minutes to write down your own bucket list don't overthink it you can change it later just start writing remember you're 42 percent more likely to accomplish your goal if you write it down and then when you're done take a photo of it and share it on social media you can tag Ben and I to become your accountability partners or tag a friend you like the challenge to make a list of their own by writing this down and sharing your list you are taking that step that most people never do and who knows maybe you'll check a few things off the list when you put yourself first you put yourself in a position to serve others and that's not selfish that's service so you need to do those things that you truly love because not only is it the best thing for you but it's also the best thing for other people and that's something that I didn't realize going on I still thought it was a bit self-serving to do the things that were important to me but now I realized that that was the best thing I can do because it inspired all these other people to do the thing they wanted to do and I think honestly if more people did that it would change the world I really I really believe that [Music]

Channel: Matt D'Avella

Views: 1,557,153

Rating: 4.9678669 out of 5

Keywords: bucket list, lifestyle, lifestyle design, die, death, dying, life, living, simple living, habits, habit change, Matt D'Avella, Ben Nemtin, before i die

Id: sOMLVlqzw_4

Length: 9min 57sec (597 seconds)

Published: Tue Dec 03 2019