What really happens when you live like there’s no tomorrow

by Yann Girard

The other day a friend of mine sent me a link to a video on YouTube. You know the kind of video where you see amazing skylines, beautiful nature, people holding hands and people kissing.

Another video that wants to tell us to live our lives. Instead of wasting them. Another video that wants to tell us that we should live every day like there’s no tomorrow.

And all of these videos, blog posts and websites that want to tell us how amazing life is (it is by the way), that want to tell us that we should quit our jobs, that we should go out and explore the world are made and spread by people with just one goal in mind.

To get more clicks. And more shares. More clicks and more shares means more money for them.

Most of these sites (or YouTube channels) make millions with the videos they publish. Or the stories they publish.

Do they even follow their own advice? Do they live life like there’s no tomorrow?

Probably not. They’re busy running a business. Just like we’re busy working. Or running our own businesses. Or whatever.

They are in the business of playing with people’s emotions. The business of selling dreams. Whether they like it or not.

They are in one of the most lucrative businesses out there. One of the most competitive businesses to be in. And to be able to make more cash they (or the people working for them) probably work more hours than most of us.

So let me tell you what it’s really like to live every day like there’s no tomorrow.

Let me tell you the truth about living the dream. Or traveling the world. And following your passion.

Or whatever it is that gets you so emotional every time you watch one of these videos that you decide to hit the share button..

# sameness

When you do super amazing and mind blowing things every day, for the rest of your life, your life will get boring. After all, you’re doing the same thing day in and day out. You’re living life like there’s no tomorrow.

And after a while nothing will amaze you anymore. You’ll have seen everything there is to see.

There’s nothing left to amaze you. Just like that boring life you live now that you once found amazing.

And then you (might) realize that real happiness, that feeling fulfilled doesn’t come from big things. From living life like there’s no tomorrow.

I think that real happiness and feeling fulfilled has to come from within. It doesn’t work outside in. It only works inside out. I also believe that it comes from the small things. And not the big things.

The things we can already do right now.

Like giving back before we’ve taken too much. Or teaching someone something we’ve learned.

You know, all of the things we can already afford right now. The things we can already do every day to live life like there’s no tomorrow..

# three hours

You can already live life like there’s no tomorrow. Starting today.

Just think about all the hours you spent watching that new Netflix series that just came out. Or the hours you spent scrolling down your newsfeed. Or the hours you spent watching motivational videos. Or reading useless blog posts. Like this one right here.

So if you really want to see what it’s like to live life like there’s no tomorrow, what about using these three hours you waste every single day doing the above to live life like there’s no tomorrow?

# choice

To me, the way living life like there’s no tomorrow is being sold online sounds a lot like living without a plan.

And when you live without a plan (or purpose), without knowing what you’re going to do next it’ll usually end up in a big mess. In a lot of confusion. Or in doing nothing at all.

The thing is when you have too much of a choice you’ll usually end up doing nothing at all. Or you’ll end up doing the stuff you already know. The familiar stuff. The easy stuff.

They call it the Paradox of Choice.

The bigger the choice, the harder it gets to choose. And taking a decision gets harder and harder, the bigger the choice. Just like pondering on your decision whether or not it was the best choice possible.

It’s like going to the supermarket looking for granola. They have dozens of different brands, flavors, sugar, no sugar, little sugar, crunchy, not crunchy and so on. It’s just too much to process.

So at the end of the day we usually end up buying the same brands. Or go to the same restaurants. Or buy the same gadgets. Or wear the same brands. Or apply for the same jobs. Or backpack to the same locations.

# cash

Living life like there’s no tomorrow will cost you a hell lot of money. Sure, you could turn your passion into a business. And make millions. You could make millions while living life like there’s no tomorrow.

Maybe. Maybe not. But probably not.

Trying to make a living following your passion will take many years. Only the best 1% (I totally made that number up) of anything are able to make a living doing what they’re doing. The other 99% won’t. And have to rely on a day job.

Be it writing books. A podcast. A blog. Drawing. You name it.

And whatever you’re doing, or thinking about doing you’ll always be competing with the best of the best. Because there’s just a limited amount of readers. Because people’s bandwidth is limited. Because people’s budgets are limited.

And people usually allocate their time, money and bandwidth to the best of the best. Why would they allocate their resources to someone mediocre if they have access to the best of the best?

And even if they did allocate any of their resources to someone or something mediocre, they would just drop it because they’ve already tasted some of the best work out there. And if they don’t know the best of the best out there yet, I’m sure they will in the future.

So if you believe you can make a living following your passion while living life like there’s no tomorrow, try to keep this in mind.

Try to keep in mind that to be able to make a living following your passion, you need to become one of the best out there first. And this will take a lot of time. And to not starve during that time you need to have some cash in the bank.

Not to mention that it’s almost impossible to live life like there’s no tomorrow while trying to become the best at something. Unless you’re Tim Ferriss and you’re the best at trying to become the best at anything..

# routine

Without a routine, without a daily practice, without having anyone to push you to do something, you’ll end up doing nothing at all. Rather sooner than later.

Just imagine how it’s like if no one tells you what to do. If no one gives you orders. If you work for one months straight and get no paycheck at the end of the month. Or even years.

Just think about it for a second.

This one thought alone is horrifying for most people. And might end up in days and days of scrolling your Facebook feed until there’s no feed left.

And when I say you wouldn’t do anything without a routine, I’m talking about myself.

Without some sort of routine I wouldn’t do anything. Nothing. I would just hang out. And watch movies. Or series. Or whatever.

And right now my routine is sort of broken.

I’m traveling, moving from place to place and living at many different places in a short period of time. And this killed my entire work routine. But I was able to sort of keep my routine alive.

And there’s one thing I do every day to keep it alive. I do this already for more than two months now. I try to be consistent. No matter what.

That’s why I write and publish one blog post every day. Sometimes I write it late at night. Sometimes I write it early in the morning. It doesn’t matter.

What really matters is to have a routine, especially when you’re trying to not have a routine.

Otherwise you’ ll end up in a complete chaos and won’t get anything done. Ever. Not even living a life like there’s no tomorrow..

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