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Live another day.And then, again, before I die, I would like to live another day.So basically, each time, before I die…I would like to live another day.That is the one thing I would want to do before I die. Seriously.And I do believe that I will continue to want to do this until I die.Which means, that when I die, it will be because I no longer want to liveanother day.And that’s how it should be.That’s not how it is, of course, and more’s the pity.I had attempted earlier to answer a couple questions humorously…I put them on hold. I’m just not in a humorous mood. I am, in fact, in adark place. I shouldn’t even be answering this question. But, I need to.It’s therapy.I DO NOT WANT TO DIE! I feel I can not stress this enough.I really so DO NOT WANT TO DIE!It seems that during even the most mundane activity, I often find myself having to stop and ‘catch my breath’, as it were. And at those times, increasingly my mind is invaded with this thought/feeling that sometime soon, I will cease to exist. I simply will no longer be here. Doing this. Or anything.The loss of ‘self’, for eternity, and that’s the catch, eternity, as a concept, has never been more clear to me. Or more frightening. I understand it now.I ‘grok its fullness.’ I see aspects of it now that I had never before considered.It has ingrained itself within my primal thought processes. Constantly revealing itself, then slinking back into it’s abyss. Yet it refuses to leave.The nagging thought that soon, ‘all that I have ever done is all that I will ever do.’I spent the vast majority of my life unconcerned with the inevitability of my death. It was always far in the future and somehow vague and surreal.Nothing I could do to avoid or prevent it…so why worry about it?There are countless examples of my disregard toward death throughout my life, the majority, of course, in my youth. With age, however, comes maturity…and if you’re paying attention- wisdom.I’ve had COPD for over 18 years now, it is non-reversibly progressive…and terminal. These past few years, as my condition worsens, death becomes more real to me. It is no longer simply conceptual, a thing to philosophize over.It approaches. It is real. And as it nears, the reality of it forces itself into my consciousness and I must deal with it. I must address it. And my fervent desire not to experience it any time soon drives my behavior and activities. I do what I can to forestall it as long as possible.And yet,“Time’s impatient and hurries onAs death prepares it’s meal.”The long, slow, wondrous days of my youth have changed, inexplicably, into short, fast-paced, angst-driven days that, as they fly by, exhaust yet more and more opportunities to do ‘something’ with what life I have left.The future used to be something I looked forward to. Planned for. Counted on. Something my life was directed toward. With anticipation.Getting old sucks. [It ain’t for rookies.] My best years are behind me; ahead,well, it’s bad enough that the way is bleak, it’s been unceremoniously shortened.I’ve been on oxygen, 24/7, for a year now. That alone has eliminated the ability to do most of the things I had always loved doing. The things which made my life…my life.I have had to adapt. Quora is an adaptation. It is something I can do. And I do it for several hours every day. It takes on a meaning for me that most of you would never know. And I hope you never have to know.That someone like me can rant on and on about an existential crisis, and that someone like you will read it, is what makes Quora special. Communication is established. Information exchanged. Feelings generated and shared.And through the Law of Unintended Consequences, sometimes even livesaltered…enhanced…rescued.Quora is a major weapon in my arsenal that I use to combat anxiety and depression.You know me as the Iguana King, the Lizard of Awes, Deputy to the Chief Outlaw of the Bottom Writers™, and other silly alter egos.Actually, I’m just a guy who wants to live another day before I die.Edit: Originally answered Nov. 22, 2018.

I suppose I'm fit to answer this question (no pun intended):All growing up, I was extremely sick—undiagnosed with Celiac Disease.At school, I think the worst insult I ever heard was, "Hey Cole, the holocaust called and they want one of their bodies back." That's how skinny I was.I lacked any and all confidence, and had no peer group to call my own—my group of friends lived on the Internet in the World of Warcraft.I didn't attend a single dance or high school event until my senior year prom, and I took a girl from another school—a girl who I tried very hard to keep from realizing that my social capital was next to nothing.I think the above photo on the left sort of speaks for itself. I was not quite what many would deem "attractive."Fast forward 7 years...I now resemble society's definition of "attractive." Horrah. I finally did it.The girls that never paid any attention to me suddenly crawl from the woodwork.The guys who made fun of me now ask for my help, wanting to know how they can get bigger, praising me and my achievements.Teachers, family friends, work associates place value on my physique, many of them assuming life for me has always been this way—I grew up that star athlete who could get any girl he wanted.And now more than ever I realize just how few people really know me.This transformation taught me a lot about who we are as humans and as a society. I think there is absolutely something to be said for presenting your best self—that's why we're told to dress well for job interviews, to "look the part." It makes sense why people would endear the fact that I have achieved something physically for myself.The hard part (and this is more of an internal thing within myself) is coming to terms with the fact that a lot of the pain I felt growing up was the result of something as trivial as my body. It's sad that as a scrawny kid, playing World of Warcraft made me a nerd, but as a shredded bodybuilder, playing World of Warcraft makes me "sort of kinky/a hot nerd" (direct quote from females).It's sad that we high-five and praise the football players and the athletes, but condemn the chess players or the artists.It's sad that nobody recognized my intelligence until I gained something that had very little to do with my intelligence.And it's sad how many people think that this is what defines me. They talk about my biceps as if they're detached from my body, someone else—an entity we can discuss objectively. They taunt me to take my shirt off and entertain the crowd. They ask me why I'm out right now, shouldn't I be in the gym, aren't I obsessed, lololol. They ridicule my work ethic and at the same time ask for my help.So I embraced it. And decided I wanted to do something positive with it.I want to support the kid who wants to become a professional gamer, or an artist. I want to help others improve their bodies so that people will take them seriously. I want to do something positive with the knowledge I've gained, instead of parroting the same script society tells us is the end goal: "get shredded, fuck bitches."As Nas said: "By the time you can afford it / the car ain't important."By the time you've changed into the person you want to become, you'll realize that it's no longer for other people's benefit.I can't knock the rewards I've gained with such a drastic transformation, but I also want it to be known that I think it's absurd what we truly value in life. But if it takes being 170lbs and "shredded" for people to hear what you have to say, then I would like to be that voice for all the outcasts and misfits out there, quiet and shy, in love with their own unique crafts, scrawny or fat, made fun of for whatever reason.Instead of putting them down, I would like to give them a high-five.Because I was one of them.

Because you’re relying on willpower.What I’ve come to realize after working with hundreds of people that were lacking self-discipline is that they did not have any reliable structure in their days that made it easy to take action, but rather were relying on willpower.Willpower is somewhat like a muscle, a source of energy that depletes over time. Relying only on willpower could serve in the very beginning when motivation is still very high. Whatever goal you have set for yourself, you are excited to give it a shot and eagerly do the first steps.Over time, however, your willpower will decrease. This depletion can be seen over the course of several days and weeks, but also in a single day, as your willpower starts off high in the morning and declines towards the evening.At this point it will be very difficult to pack your bag for the gym, to resist that delicious pizza around the corner, or to finish that book instead of wasting time on social media.You then wonder why you don’t have any self-discipline.So both motivation and willpower are actually rather low ranking traits on the scale of consistency and productivity.Let’s look at the four levels:Willpower/Motivation: As described, having good levels of willpower can be useful to make yourself do something and overcome laziness. However, just like motivation, willpower is unreliable, so this is actually the lowest level of productivity and consistency.Discipline: Discipline implies that you have to bring up a certain degree of willpower to overcome laziness. It is better than sheer willpower alone, because you regularly bring up that willpower and get used to doing it, especially if you don’t feel like it. However, it’s not reliable either, since on some days you manage to discipline yourself, on others you don’t.Habits: Habits are the cornerstone of consistency. You shift from conscious effort and willpower to implementing habits that take over and run on autopilot. The key is to implement habits by designing your environment and it will be easier to actually stick to them and make them a part of your day.Identity: This is the ultimate level of consistency. It is an evolution of habits. Once you are consistent with your habit for a long period of time, these habits will turn into your identity. It will not be a habit for you to e.g. go to the gym, you simply will go to the gym no matter what because you are a person who goes to the gym.At the last stage, there will be no questioning, no laziness, you literally just do it. You would have to use willpower to not do it.This is where you want to be. Whatever goal you have. Don’t think of the result, but rather the kind of person you have to become and the tiny steps that are needed to get there.Reading some pages, doing some minutes of exercise, cooking a healthy meal yourself… taking small steps in the right direction on a daily basis establishes lasting habits that will ultimately shape your identity.What is the first step to get there?Choose a keystone habits and make it stick.A keystone habit is a habit that once established can have a ripple effect, whose benefits expand to other areas of your life and thus over time improve it as a whole.Charles Duhigg describes them in his book “The Power of Habit” as, "small changes or habits that people introduce into their routines that unintentionally carry over into other aspects of their lives."What are examples of keystone habits?One example is exercise. Regular work-outs have several side effects. You develop a better posture and feel better, which is easily noticed by your surroundings and can help you in your dating life. It also makes you take care of your nutrition and how you treat your body. It increases self-discipline and thus affects your progress on difficult tasks and so on.You will then notice how it will influence other areas of your life and allow you to progress in these areas.How do I actually stick to my habits?By making it easy to stick to them through intelligent design of your environment. [1]A good example of how to use Environmental Design is your phone. The first thing many people do after waking up is to reach for their smartphone and check messages, e-mails or notifications from social media. This sets you in a reactive state and will prevent you from focusing on your true priorities.Therefore, before going to bed, intelligently design your environment.Put your phone in airplane mode and place it somewhere impossible to reach from your bed. Prepare your to-do list with the 5 most important things you want to achieve the following day and place it somewhere you can see it as soon as you wake up.After waking up, you can directly focus on the tasks that lie ahead. Should you still instinctively reach for your phone, there will be no distractions available due to the airplane mode.This will allow you to start your days in a productive instead of reactive state. This is one of the most important aspects of productivity, because remember:“If you commit to nothing, you’ll be distracted by everything”To summarize, discipline and willpower are not reliable. Focus on implementing daily habits which make taking action inevitable and automatic.Hope that helps,KilianLearn more about my work and mission by visiting my Quora profile here.