Ro's Recz

While I was listening to the most recent episode of The Tim Ferriss Show, Ferriss recommended all of his listeners to read an essay called The Tail End by Tim Urban. This was not the first time I had heard someone mention the piece before, so I was sure to take a look this time at The Tail End.

The Tail End is such a simple essay (it even has pictures and diagrams), but the message is profound. In The Tail End, Urban describes how much of his life has already passed by him. He was only 34 years old at the time of the post, and he assumed he would live to 90 (this is him being optimistic). Then, Urban looks at things like how many more winters he will see, how many Super Bowls he can watch, how many new presidents will take office during his lifetime, how many more times he will eat pizza in his life, etc.; these are all simple things that so many people take for granted, but when you look at the pictures, they don’t seem like so much.

Then, Urban takes it one step further and looks at things like how much time you have spent with your family and friends. When you are young, going to school, and living with your parents, this is when you see them the most. In fact, Urban estimates that by the time you move out and graduate from high school, you have already spent 93% of the time that you will spend with your parents; this is also true for childhood friends and people you went to school with. This is a sobering fact, but it is likely a reality unless you end up living in the same city in the future.

The Tail End was not meant to be a downer, but is instead meant to make sure you are really using the time you have left as you want. I found it to be a really great message, and definitely recommend you check out the full article here!