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💡 The Big Idea: Thinking About Death Can Help You Be Happier & More Productive

As humans, we usually try to avoid thinking about death.

But that doesn't make it any less inevitable. And thinking about it the right way can actually have some major benefits.

So in this newsletter, we're going to explore the idea of Memento Mori (and how it can benefit your PKM system).

What is Memento Mori?

According to ancient writings of Tertullian going back to the second century, victorious war generals had a custom where they would have someone follow them during their triumphal procession whose only job was to whisper in their ear, “Respice post te. Hominem te memento.”

The English translation is “Look after you until the time of your death and remember that you’re only a man.”

In other words: don’t get too excited there, big shot.

Over time, this has been shortened to what has become a common literary trope: memento mori, which means “remember you’re going to die someday.”

While thinking about your inevitable death may seem morbid to some, Oliver Burkeman takes a different tone in his phenomenal book, Four Thousand Weeks, in which he advocates for the limit-embracing life. I found his description of cosmic insignificance particularly fascinating because it couples 2 important ideas together:

• The realization that we all have limited time here in the scale of the universe, and
• The recognition of how small a part we actually play in it unfolding.

But that’s not as depressing as it may first appear. Instead of drawing the conclusion that everything is meaningless, memento mori actually has the opposite effect because it alleviates the pressure we tend to put on ourselves to change the world.

How Memento Mori Connects to PKM

We tend to believe that the “answer” to our problem is out there, somewhere, and it's our job to find it.

And as soon as we find it, then everything will magically click into place.

But PKM isn’t about finding some secret key. It’s about learning to make sense of the world around you.

That doesn't mean we shouldn't strive for excellence or try to leave a bigger dent in the universe. But when you learn to live a limit-embracing life, the pressure is gone. Instead of the weight of the world being placed squarely on your shoulders, you are free to simply do the best you can with what you have to work with.

And I believe the key here is a framework I call The PKM Stack because it helps you maintain a perspective of "is this userful?" rather than "has someone else said that this is important?"

When you start from a place of memento mori, you realize the importance of living life in alignment with your vision and your values. That perspective shift then acts as a filter for everything else, causing a chain reaction that goes all the way down to the information you decide to consume and collect.

By starting at the top, you can flip the script and live a life of calm intention, protecting your attention and focus rather than constantly reacting to whatever the world is screaming at you is important.

How I Practice Memento Mori

Because it is so easy for me to lose perspective, I actually created a visual reminder that I look at every day. It’s a custom callout (made with the Callout Manager plugin) in my Daily Note in Obsidian that takes the current day in relation to my date of birth and shows me the percentage of my life that has already passed (based on the average 80-year lifespan).

Again, this isn’t depressing – it’s actually inspiring! It's a visual reminder that each day matters, and I should make the most of it.

If you want to do something similar, I’ve actually included the code snippet in my Starter Vault and I have a YouTube video that walks through the whole thing here.

Just don’t put too much pressure on yourself 😉

😎 Something Cool: The Callout Manager Plugin​

This isn't a new plugin, but it is really cool. Callout Manager lets you create callout classes that you can use in Obsidian with custom colors and icons.

In addition to the Memento Mori callout I mentioned above, I use several other custom callouts in my Daily Note template for tracking habits, displaying tasks, and showing me today's Bible readings:

If you use callouts a lot in Obsidian (and if you don't, you really should 😉), check out this plugin.

😎 Something REALLY Cool (to Me): The Relay 10th Anniversary Show in London 🇬🇧

I had the privilege of being a part of the Relay 10th Anniversary Live Show last Saturday in London at the Hackney Empire. It was an incredible experience to celebrate 10 years of Relay with Stephen Hackett, Myke Hurley, and a bunch of other Relay hosts.

Like the 5-year anniversary show, Jason Snell played host for a game of “Fortunate Families” (a riff on the game show Family Feud or Fortunate Families in the UK). Myself and the rest of the Relay hosts who made the trip split into two teams, and hilarity ensued.

Because it took place in a historic theater, no one was sure that a recording would be possible. But turns out™ the recording was successful, and the audio from the show is now available in the Relay Departures feed!

If that sounds fun to you, you can give it a listen here.

📚 Book Notes: Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman

In a culture that is obsessed with productive output, I really believe Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman is a very important, perspective-shifting book. And it's one of my all-time favorites.

In addition to the idea of memento mori, this phenomenal book tackles the problem of busyness, the myth of work/life balance, the efficiency trap, and becoming OK with things that are not OK. If you are looking for a great productivity book that hits on more than just cranking out more widgets, you'll love this book.

If you want to download my mind map notes from this book, click here.

– Mike