Six Tests To Determine: Is It Worth Dying For?

According to Dr. Robert S. Elliot, stress may be the greatest single contributor to illness in the industrial world. In his book, “Is It Worth Dying For?”, he offers the following tests that help you understand your own feelings so that you can “live creatively” with stress.

The Tombstone Test

Clarifying one’s own values is essential to managing stress. To clarify your values ask yourself: “What would you like to have written on your tombstone? How would you like to be remembered? This question has a way of crystallizing personal values.

The Checkbook Test

Get your checkbook and make a list of where you have chosen to spend your money in the past twelve months. Take a close look at your discretionary expenses (other than your fixed expenses like rent, food, ..). many people never find the money to buy what they really want because they spend it on things they want less.

The Time Test

Make a list of all the thins you do in a normal month, plus what you do on special occasions. Such list has helped a man who was spending three hours a day on a crowded train to a city job to request a transfer to the suburb. The list helped him realize that an activity he assumed was necessary had nothing to do with what he really wanted from life.

The Pride Test

What personal accomplishments give you the most pride? Can the life you are living today provide more accomplishments like these?

The Adjective Test

What three qualities would you most like to see associated with your reputation? Is the life you are living today distinguished by these qualities?

The “Six-Month-to Live” Test

Suppose you only had six months to live. What would you choose to do, and not to do, in that time? Based on your answer, what changes would you do in your life now?