When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.
Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything -- all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure -- these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.
about a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7∶
I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I'm fine now.
This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope it's the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept:
No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.
Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma -- which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.
中文：17岁的时候，我读到了一句格言，仿佛是：“假如你把每一天都当作生命中最后一天去生活的话，一定有一天你会是正确的。”这句话给我留下了深刻的印象。自那将来，在过去的33年中我天天早晨都会对着镜子问自己：“假如今天是我生命中的最后一天，我会去做今天计划做的那些事吗？”每当答案连续多日都是“不会”的时候，我了解我该做些改变了。
提醒自己我马上死去，是帮我做出生活中很多重大抉择的非常重要的工具。由于几乎所有些所有——所有别人的期望、荣耀、面子问题和对失败的恐惧——这类在死亡面前都会消失殆尽，留下的是真的要紧的东西。提醒自己我将要死去，我觉得是防止患得患失的最好方法。你本来就一无所有，没理由不顺心而为。
大约一年前， 我被诊断出得了癌症。我在早晨7点半做了扫描， 扫描结果了解地显示我的胰腺上长了一个肿瘤。我当时甚至都不了解胰腺是什么东西。大夫告诉我，这基本上是一种没办法治愈的癌症， 我活在世上的时间不会超越3~6个月。大夫劝我回家，安排后事，这是大夫让患者等死的婉言。这意味着你要尽可能把本来想在将来10年内对孩子们说的话在几个月里说完；意味着你要把所有安排妥当，叫你的家人尽量地轻松一点；意味着你要说“再见”了。
诊断结果让我想了一整天。那天晚上晚些时候，我做了活组织切片检查。大夫将一个内窥镜从我的喉咙伸进来，通过我的胃， 进入我的肠子， 然后用一根针刺进我的胰腺，在肿瘤上提取了一些细胞。我当时注射了镇定剂，但在场的老婆后来告诉我，大夫在显微镜下察看这类细胞的时候，突然叫了起来， 由于我患的居然是一种很罕见的、可以用手术治愈的胰腺癌。我做了手术，目前痊愈了。
那是我与死神擦肩而过的一次， 我期望这也是将来几十年最接近死神的一次。以前死亡对于我只不过一个有用但抽象的定义，有了这次历程后，我目前可以愈加确信地对你们说：
无人想死， 即便大家想上天堂， 也不会为了去那里而死。但死亡是大家每一个人一同的归宿，无人幸免。也应该这样，由于死亡非常可能是生命惟一最好的创造。它是生命变化更替的推进力。它破旧立新。你们目前是新人，但不久的以后，你们会慢慢变老，然后被清除掉。我非常抱歉这非常戏剧性，但事实就是如此。
你们的时间非常有限， 所以不要把时间浪费在重复别人的生活上。不要受教条的束缚，由于那就意味着你依据其他人的思想在生活。不要让别人喋喋不休的建议淹没掉你一个人内心的声音。非常重要的是， 要勇于听从你内心的直觉。可以说，内心的直觉早已了解你想要成为何样的人，而其他所有都是次要的。
