Memento Mori: Making the Case for a Growth Mindset

Memento Mori. It’s Latin for “remember you will die.”

In “Meditations,” his private journal, Marcus Aurelius, the last of the Five Good Emperors of Rome, wrote to himself, “you could leave life right now. Let that determine what you do and say and think.”

As an Emperor with absolute power, Marcus was perhaps the most powerful man in the world at the time. No one could restrain him.

He could have anything he wanted. He could do anything he wanted.

That Marcus chose to restrain himself begs the question, why?

Marcus understood that meditating on his mortality gave him the best perspective on what was imperative in life. It kept him focused on what was most purposeful. It helped him to set his priorities.

By remaining mindful that time is a finite gift that can run out at any moment, Marcus was exceedingly careful not to waste any of it.

His was not an easy reign, but Marcus was determined to live life to the fullest, in service of the greater good. By numerous accounts, he accomplished just that.

Given his success, in the West, Marcus has come to symbolize the Golden Age of the Roman Empire.

Much has changed in almost 2,000 years, but one thing remains the same — we will die.

We’re not likely to be taxed with many of the challenges that Marcus faced as the Emperor of Rome, but we’d still do well to follow his lead in recognizing that we “could leave life right now,” so we need to make the most of the time we’ve been given.

One way we can accomplish this is to adopt a growth mindset.

According to psychologist Carol S. Dweck, one of two mindsets, fixed or growth, determines the course our life will take.

If we adopt a fixed mindset, we trap ourselves in stagnation.

With a fixed mindset:

• We think we’re either born with talent or we’re not, so our skills are what they are; they can’t really be improved all that much.
• We see challenges as something that might reveal a weakness, so we’re reluctant to push through them, and we often entirely avoid them.
• We hesitate to drive ourselves very hard because deep down, we think there’s a chance we may not succeed, so we won’t put in much effort.
• We usually consider feedback to be personal attacks, so we deflect and defend ourselves against it.
• We find setbacks frustrating, become easily discouraged, and tend to blame something other than ourselves when things don’t go as we’d like.

However, with a growth mindset:

• We know that the skills we have are the result of the work we put into developing them, and that we have the potential to improve them.
• We embrace challenges as opportunities to grow, and we recognize that when we rise to meet the challenges we encounter, we fortify our ability to persist.
• We believe that effort is essential to accomplishing anything, and we’re willing to put in the work to achieve mastery.
• We value feedback because it helps us see more clearly what we need to do to get closer to what it is we’re working to attain.
• We appreciate setbacks as red flags that call our attention to the need for a course correction, so that we ultimately take the path that is best for us.

When we adopt a growth mindset to inform what we “do and say and think,” we’re far more likely to create lives that are effective and efficient.

Herein lies the ability for a growth mindset to help us live lives in keeping with the philosophy of Memento Mori.

By creating lives that are as effective and efficient as possible, we’re far more likely to expeditiously realize our desired success in life.

Most of us don’t know when our time here will be up, so it’s easy to lose sight of just how finite our time here is.

So, ask yourself, if you knew your time here was limited, would you have different priorities? Would you make different decisions? Would you take different actions?

How much better could your life be if you lived it as though every moment matters?

How much better could life be for those you care about?

Your time here is limited, so every moment does matter.

Consider adopting a growth mindset to help you make the most of it.

Because you and yours deserve to live your best lives.

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