If today was your last day on earth, how would you spend it?
Would it be a day spent ticking off a never-ending bucket list or one filled with regret that maybe you aren't living the life you should be.
Award-winning scientist, businessman and philanthropist Sir Ray Avery estimates he has fewer than 4000 days left of his life and he intends to make each one count.
Sir Ray is supporting the newly launched Will to Live website, which aims to help people better prepare for their death so they can focus on getting the most out of life.
The website provides tools to help people create their own wills and bucket lists, and allows them to read the bucket lists of some well-known and everyday New Zealanders.
"We're all going to die," Sir Ray said. "For most people it will be a big bloody surprise but it won't for me because I'm planning it backwards.
"If you've got this great big bucket list at the end of your life, it probably means that you haven't lived your life properly because you haven't done it and you wanted to.
"Don't just do things at the end of your life," he said.
Sir Ray was the 2012 New Zealander of the Year and is known for establishing Medicine Mondiale, an independent development agency and charity that creates low-cost solutions to combat poverty and health problems in Third World countries.
The old saying tells us that there are two certainties in life; death and taxes. As maudlin as it sounds, from the moment we are born, we start to die. But if we are fortunate enough to reach middle age without incident, the end of our lives become ever-nearer.
We recently attended the funeral of a family member of similar vintage to us. This person was well on the road to recovery from one serious medical condition when they were struck down by another, completely out of the blue. It was certainly sobering.
Back to Sir Ray Avery; read on:
He said everyone was born with about 30,000 days to live.
"I know I am in the last tenth of my life, so every day I dream big and go for it.
"If you are starting a business or some endeavour you plan what you are going to do and, if you are smart, you have an exit strategy."
But few of us apply that thinking to our own lives.
"It's not just about making a will. It's about willing ourselves to live our lives better than we do."
Live your life according to a plan, he said.
"I'm not saying it has to be a standard-operating system that is very sterile and dour but the worst part is waking up at 78 years old on your deathbed and have had a wasted life, and you look back and you haven't achieved anything."
So if you want to retire at 60 and sail around the world, you need to start setting yourself benchmarks to achieve that goal now.
Sir Ray's two young daughters were his main driving force.
"When I die I want them to say: Dad was a good guy. Not just to us but he tried to make the world a better place."
Will to Live is the brainchild of public law expert Mai Chen.
"I am concerned that so many people in New Zealand haven't planned for the future," she said.
We found this story really thought-provoking. We never used to be great fans of strategic planning and goal-setting, but in more recent years have been far more structured in both our business and personal lives and it has been beneficial.
So what Sir Ray Avery and Mai Chen are saying here makes a good deal of sense. We have no fear whatsoever of dying, but it's made us think about the things that may have been left undone should we shuffle off this mortal coil prematurely. We'll certainly be checking out the Will to Live website.
Sailing around the world at 60 might be a bit of a stretch, not just because 60 is getting frightening close! But we're sure that our exit from this life into eternity can be improved with a bit of planning.
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