I love stuff like this because everyone knows it’s true. But too often we pretend we’re never going to die and so make stupid, soul-deadening decisions. When I was in college, I loved Carlos Castaneda’s hippie classic, Journey to Ixtlan. One of the big life lessons of the Indian sage Don Juan was, “Death is an Adviser.” If you always live knowing that death is right around the corner, you will undoubtedly be living right. And, I think, demanding to work less and live more.

Check out “The Top Five Regrets of the Dying” here:

www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2012/feb/01/top-five-regrets-of-the-dying