Chasing Daylight and Perfect Moments

Title: Chasing Daylight: How My Forthcoming Death Transformed My Life
Author: Eugene O'Kelly with Andrew Postman and Corinne O'Kelly
Publisher: McGraw-Hill: New York
ISBN: 978-0-07-149993-4

Gene O'Kelly was elected chairman and CEO of KPMG(US) in 2002. A leadership role he was performing in May 2005 when he was diagnosed with inoperable brain cancer and given three months to live.

Chasing Daylight: How My Forthcoming Death Transformed My Life is the story of how he adjusted his life so that he could die well. An account of how he maximized the last 100 days of his life, despite debilitating brain cancer. Or maybe better put, because of it.

An accountant by training, he rose through the ranks to become chairman and CEO. Then quit abruptly upon diagnosis of brain cancer. He describes the diagnosis as a gift. It gave him the opportunity to radically alter his life. And while 100 days is a short time frame, at least it's a time frame. Some people get none

Suggestions I took away from reading this book:

(p.14) 1. Consider taking the time to plan my final weeks and months on earth. And to do it now.

(p.52) 2. Live fearlessly. Clarity of mission, commitment, and execution.

(p. 62) 3. Focus on quality and depth when you don't have a lot of time left (quantity).

(p.73) 4. Live completely in the moment -- don't think about the future or reflect on the past -- live in the moment, completely absorbed.

(p. 99) 5. Define what a good good-bye looks like for me.

(p. 110) 6. Attempt to turn lifes ocassions into Perfect Moments.

(p. 111) 7. Be open to Perfect Moments when they occur without my efforts.

(p. 132) 8. Realize that enough Perfect Moments strung together make a Perfect Day.

Overall, a profoundly emotional book for me.