1) Take your current age, multiple it by fifty two.
2) Take 4000 and deduct the figure you got from step (1).

Ok, do it now.

I’ll wait for you.

No, really, you need to do it.

Yes. now.

Ok, if you haven’t done it yet, you can do it later.

But you’re missing out.

Ladies and gentlemen, the number you have is the number of weeks you can expect to live!

No one lives forever, but the problem is that when you’re young, you think you’ll live forever. You feel invincible, you can do another and probably live till 150.

But as you grow older, you put on the pounds, you go through the daily grind of the job (if you’re unemployed), you worry about finding a job (if you’re unemployed), you worry about the next project/contract (if you run your own business), you worry about competitors (if you’re successful). So worry starts to dominate, more and more.

Added to that is the fact that the sands of the hourglass seem to be ticking faster and faster, or maybe it’s just because there doesn’t seem to be that many grains left in the upper chamber.

Regardless of the fact, most of us will live about 78 years. Maybe 90, maybe 120 if we’re lucky.

But beyond just the number, the quantity of time that’s left, there’s the quality as well.

Few people think about the legacy, the mark they left behind when they go. Maybe during the last few weeks, there’ll be a period of reflection, a moment of regret? a moment of satisfaction.

But it doesn’t have to be that way, does it?

Can’t reflection begin much earlier?

Reflection can begin during the prime of our lives (the only thing most teenagers seem to reflect in, is a mirror)

By seeing what we are doing today and more importantly, ensuring that what we’re doing is something we’d be proud of doing, it’ll ensure that our week is well spent.

To do that may mean that we methodically plan our schedule. Business guru Tom Hopkins, asks himself constantly asks himself what the most significant thing he could be doing at that moment in time to keep himself in check.

After all our initial 4,000 weeks isn’t a lot to begin with. And if we look at the amount of time we have left, isn’t it time to take stock and make a change now?