If my doctor told me I had only six minutes to live, I wouldn’t brood. I’d type a little faster.

-Isaac Asimov

In recent years the term “bucket list” has become popular, possibly because of the movie by the same name. Maybe writing a book is on your bucket list—it’s something you want to do before you die.

Death might seem far off, though. And that can keep you writing slowly. There’s no sense of urgency if you feel you have lots of time to get that book finished.

Here’s the cold hard truth: None of us knows how long we will live. Anything could happen… That’s why we must mark the items off our bucket lists now…not later.

Author Carlos Castaneda wrote about living with death on your shoulder. It sounds a bit morbid, but for this week, I’d like you to approach your writing with that mentality, that consciousness. Consider that today might be your last chance to get that book out of your head and committed to paper. This might be your last chance to leave a unique legacy—a personal story, your wisdom or a tale you always wanted to tell. How does that change how you approach your work, your writing?

While I don’t advocate adding stress to your life, possessing a sense that you need to write this book now is a good thing—especially if the book is timely or you have other books to write. Use that urgency to get this one done so you can move on to the next one…and mark off another bucket-list item: become a multiple-book author.