Live Every Day With the End in Mind

Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. — Psalm 90:12

In the 1800s, a French newspaper mistakenly published Alfred Nobel’s obituary, calling him “The Merchant of Death” for inventing dynamite. Reading how history would remember him shook Nobel deeply. He responded by changing his legacy, dedicating his wealth to what we now know as the Nobel Prizes. When Nobel counted his days, he gained a heart of wisdom.

Centuries later, Steve Jobs echoed a similar truth. In his Stanford commencement speech, he said, “Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve encountered to help me make the big choices in life.”

When we live with the awareness of our mortality, we make different decisions — decisions rooted not in fear, but in clarity and purpose.

In our lives, we often imagine we have endless time. We chase promotions, possessions, recognition — only to find at the end that these were not the things that mattered. Studies have shown that at the deathbed, people rarely regret not working more hours or climbing higher ladders. They regret not spending time with family, not pursuing their true callings, not loving deeply while they had the chance.

Why wait until our deathbeds to gain that clarity? Wisdom invites us to live today with the end in mind.

I learned this personally. I chose to work only three days a week so that I could homeschool my boys the rest of the time. We tell stories, study Scripture, take industry tours — making memories during these precious, fleeting years. We only have about fifteen summers with our children before they step into their own lives. After that, no amount of longing can bring those days back.

Whether it’s spending more time with your family, writing the book in your heart, or serving generously — make time now. Tomorrow is never guaranteed.

In the corporate world, it’s easy to lose sight of this. We get swept up in daily goals, urgent deadlines, and endless comparisons. But when you number your days, you begin to build a life — and a work legacy — that you will not regret.

Living wisely demands that we number our days before our days number us.

# Action Items:

• Reflect prayerfully: If this were my last year, how would I want to live it? What would I want to leave behind?
• Identify one action you've been postponing — spending time with family, starting a meaningful project, reconciling a relationship — and take a tangible step toward it this week.
• Schedule regular times (monthly or quarterly) to revisit your life priorities and adjust your daily choices to match.