"If you had ONLY 60 seconds, what will you take?" A question-that-questions how we live life....

I was watching this movie Leap Year, where I heard this question.

If you had 60 seconds, what will you take?

A character in the movie asks this question to the protagonist (Amy Adams), in reference to a situation where he could just save his grandmother's ring in the 60 seconds he had.

I have been thinking since. What will I take?

Maybe my certificates? Few valuables? Documents? Car keys? Photographs?

I don't know. I really have not found an answer. And all this is assuming all my family members are safely out. 60 seconds, just how long is that?

Infact, the question itself seems so unreal, so movie-like.

But is it?

And that is when another thought occurred to me...that...

We are living our lives like we have forever..

Just in the last few years I have heard so many cases in my first and second circles of some 30 or 40 year old people who simply dropped dead at workplace. One incident was of a teenager who simply passed away at school feeling unwell during the day. A teacher of mine, doing so well in life, one fine day was diagnosed with cancer.

Is this really a movie-like situation?

Have you not seen any of these in your circle of acquaintances?

We feel sad and philosophical for a few days, and then go back to the mindless way of living. By mindless, consider the following:

#1) We put off the most important things for tomorrow..

I will take up that language course after 5 years...

I will learn music when I retire...

I will build bank balance today, spend time with family after a few years..

I will make that call tomorrow... I will say sorry later...

I will go for holiday next year...

I don't have time to say thankyou....to say you made a difference to my life..

Are you sure you are going to be around, or those people you are planning to spend time with 'later'?

#2) We trade time cheap...

I really need this 20 things in my cupboard, which I will never use...but I will spend my life's time to earn money...to pay for these... and spend more time maintaining it...

I will spend time...

Sleeping long hours without really resting.... just because I have not built a life that is worth waking up to

Working long hours without really creating value... just because someone is throwing paper notes at me for it

Staring at the television without really enjoying... just because I think the biggest win of my life is to be able to entertain myself

We treat time cheap, as if there was EVEN ONE place in the world where we could buy more time, when the time comes...

I was watching a Ted talk by Luma Mufleh (I will strongly recommend watching it, even if we don't care about refugees. We will simply feel grateful for the life, we may have been cribbing about 10 minutes ago). While the talk is about a larger issue, Luma speaks of situations when somebody's home got bombed and they simply had to flee for their lives that very second. One day they were decent, respectable people - the next day they become wretched refugees, seen through eyes of suspicion. Hard to imagine for those of us, who have the massive challenge of smog and traffic to crib about (not withstanding the fact that we have contributed to the problem - and care about it only when the inconvenience hits us).

There are so many people around the world who do not even have 60 seconds.

The more I think about this, the more I am appalled by what has come upon us.

Can we take today, pause for just 60 seconds, and ask ourselves:

If I only had 60 seconds, what will I take? (See how easily you can answer it).

If this was the last 60 seconds of my life, what will I regret?

Time is the only true measure of everything.

The richest person is not one who has the maximum money. That is merely incidental.

The richest people are those who knows what to take from every 60 second of their life...

Being brutally honest with yourself, with your hand on your heart, have you taken out every second's worth from your life?

If this was your last 60 seconds, what will you regret?

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Swati Jena is a writer and entrepreneur. While she writes on a wide variety of subjects, her favorite topics are leadership, culture, artificial intelligence, education and ‘self’.

She is the author of a unique book on entrepreneurship, called:

The Entrepreneur’s Soulbook — Is it your cup of tea? Link to the book

Swati is the founder of GhostWritersWorld (LinkedIn Page)/(website)

Her other articles include:

Technology & product

1. “If Robots will do everything, what will humans do”: Why AI Rhetoric deeply worries me
2. “Justice delayed is justice denied”: Could AI and Data Science be the answer to India’s judicial backlog?
3. Flirt with your product ideas, don’t fall in love
4. LOL … driverless cars for India??: When AI meets Cows, Rajinikanth and Ganpati
5. Love in the time of Artificial Intelligence: Valentine’s Day 2030
6. “Who pays the price?”: Why PRODUCT INNOVATION without SERVICE EXCELLENCE hurts customers — the ETHICS of product innovation

Leadership and Organization

1. “If you are nothing without the suit, you don’t deserve it”: 3 cardinal tests for anyone who calls himself leader
2. 3 unforgettable lessons I learnt from an Indian Ed Tech Leader
3. “Oh! You are sensitive”: Why sensitive is a TABOO word — and LEADERS should consciously HIRE such people in teams
4. “I love solving problems”: The BIG problem with problem solving
5. “So why are you leaving?”: Don’t treat retention discussions like a ONE TIME date
6. Sophisticated-fear-based-management: 3 unmistakable signs
7. Interns or cheap labor? Making internship count
8. “Travis may be Uber, but Uber cannot be Travis: The curious case of Charismatic leaders”

Diversity and Inclusion

1. “Women can’t code because of Biology: 3 reasons it was a BIG MISTAKE for google to fire James Damore (perspectives of a feminist)
2. 3 taboo questions Millennials are asking, leaving hiring managers shocked
3. Why the ‘Corporate-style Women’s Day Celebrations’ gives me the creeps
4. The OOUCH of maternity leaves: Why managers secretly dread it
5. Man or Woman? Who should lead gender diversity? Why we are simply asking the WRONG question.
6. “She has good figure”: Why creating a safe place to work takes much more than just sexual harrassment policy

Self-help

1.”But I have bills to pay..”: Why the PREMISE we build our life on, DECIDES how far we will go..

2. “How is life? Well, going on.”: Why you should NOT quit your job, but GRADUATE from it

3.The Monkey Catcher’s Lesson: Why we get stuck in our jobs, situations, emotions..

4. “Anger is remembered pain”: 3 steps to healing from difficult experiences at workplace

5. “How is life? Well, going on..”: Why you should NOT quit your job, but GRADUATE from it

6. A “50-over-50” list: Pressures of adults “growing up” in a world of over-achieving youngsters

7. The (difficult) art of doing nothing and why it matters in a world proud of “busy”

8. 500 Uber rides without driver talking on the phone: My personal starfish story

9. “Here is a muffin that will make you successful”: The unspoken truth about success

10. 5 reasons we should “stop fighting” for a cause

11. “You are hiding something”: 4 reasons we find it difficult to trust those we love

12. “Pick your battles”: Fine, but how?

Education

1. The Yin and Yang of Ed-Tech: Will schools even survive the next 10 years?
2. Why we “grown-ups” are the biggest reason the education system must change urgently
3. “No chair for teacher”: Is it time we do away with this regressive and myopic policies