There Is No Tomorrow-Will You Choose to Live Like Draper or Aurelius?
There was a time when my favorite show on earth was Mad Men. I believe Don Draper, the fictional character the show centered around is one of the best ever written. I think he’s also one of the worst. Don is a cynical, selfish, womanizing, wounded man who seems to have one concern above all others-his own happiness.
There is a scene in which he pretty much sums up his existence. If you search YouTube you will see it promoted as some sort of call for “Carpe Diem!” I have a much different view.
In the scene Don is having dinner with new client Rachel Menken played by Maggie Siff. After a short soliloquy of why love is basically a bunch of bulls** created by advertisers to sell nylons Don caps off the speech with one of his most famous quotes.
“I’m living like there’s no tomorrow, because there isn’t.”
How many times have we heard people say, “Live like there’s not tomorrow!” It’s a rallying cry to go for it! Carpe Diem! Life is short, play hard. Don’t miss a moment!
Usually the advice could be summed up by saying, “Forget about everyone but yourself and go for it. Live like there’s not tomorrow.” Don Draper would be all in.
However, there’s another quote by philosopher of a different sort. Marcus Aurelius like so many of the Stoics often documented in his journal known as “Meditations” about the finite nature of life. Like his contemporaries he was fixated on how we should live. The Stoics were always grappling with the meaning of life. Their search always started within themselves.
The father of Stoicism, Zeno once remarked, “He who conquers his mind conquers the world.”
In Meditations #69 Aurelius writes, “The perfection of moral character consists in this, in passing every day as if it were the last, and in being neither violently excited nor torpid nor playing the hypocrite.”
Let’s break that down:
Moral character-Doing what is right for the day. Letting your actions show that know offense can be found of you in that day
Neither violently excited-Don’t live like Don Draper. Don’t get so worked up that this is or may be your last day you live with such exuberance as to lose all prudence
Torpid-Don’t be a sloth. Just because there’s no tomorrow doesn’t mean there’s not a live to be lived to the fullest today
Playing the hypocrite-Be the same yesterday, today and, should you be so fortunate to have one, tomorrow. Be authentic each and every day. If this is your last day, go to the grave knowing everyone knew the real you.
Aurelius was encouraging himself to live a life in such a way that wether it was his last or one of 1000 more it didn’t matter. I think Aurelius is telling us to live each day to the utmost in character, productivity, gratitude and fullness.
Have you ever noticed how much more work we get done on a day before holiday or travel? We leave the office with our desk clean, emails returned, voicemail checked. Why should this day be special? Why not live every day with discipline, vigor, curiosity, love, joy? Leave every day tidy and prepared for the next whether in comes or not.
If you’re a Don Draper, your last day could be at any moment so you choose to live it up. You’re living not just for the moment but mostly for yourself.
If like Aurelius, your life has developed a greater sense of meaning. So good is your life to you and those around you it needn’t be any different than the ones prior. You have decided to make yourself the best for every day.
The motto of The Jason Wright Show is to “Improve always in ALL ways.” It is my sincere hope I’m living in such a way that each and every day I lived it to the fullest in all ways. If this is one of my last breaths, I hope I leave my family feeling loved, so today I’ll do something to remind them. I hope my wife knows she is adored so I will tell her and show her. I hope I’ve exercised my brain so I will write an article, read a book and try to go to bed or to my grave knowing something I didn’t know yesterday.
Which will you choose? Will you be a Draper or an Aurelius? Either way Carpe Diem!