It's said that Alfred Nobel established the Nobel Prize because his obituary was published in error before his death and he didn't like what was said about him. It wasn't how we wanted to be remembered - at all.
We may have reflected more on life achievements in the last few days since the death of Steve Jobs who achieved so much. As President Obama noted many of us read of his death on a device that he had created.
As we know from Mr. Jobs' Stanford University Commencement Address (helpfully reproduced in the Observer on Sunday), death gave his life a real focus. It was the certainty of death that helped him get on with his life. We are all naked before it, he said.
It was a frank, honest and shocking comment since it reminded us that our stay is all too short and if we don't get on with doing what we promise ourselves, we won't. There are no re-runs. And even if we believe in eternal life afterwards, there's still no guarantee that we wouldn't waste that as well. Old habits die hard.
So much of our time is wasted on nonsense. Silly games at work occupy way too much thought. Stressing about finances, the Eurozone, the crime rate, and the value of our pensions - all these thoughts eat away minutes, hours, days and years that we will never get back.
Some years ago I attended a 24-hour life-planning seminar. One of the exercises was writing my own obituary. Armed, as it were, with this, I was put through a challenge session where other participants quizzed me on my ambitions.
My obituary was not so much a reflection on a life achieved but a poem on a life spent dreaming. My goals were wholly unrealistic. I would have needed three lifetimes.
I left the session with one word: focus. Without it, time slips between the cracks.
Far less time has been wasted since. But still too much.
So why ask a friend to write your obituary?
This might seem obvious but the plain fact is that we will not hear it when it's delivered for real.
We can write part of it for ourselves - what we know we've done. But as to whether anything we've done has made any difference at all, that's for other people to judge.
Think of the benefits.
Pick the right friend and you'll get an honest take on how much you've contributed to life. It may be a small slash in a marginally bigger puddle. It may not be that much. But you'll never know until you ask.
You'll also see yourself as others see you. It's a rare thing to get dispassionate honesty. You may not like what you hear.
It will help to reinforce what matters to other people. So much of what we do is focused on our own existence.
And it will remind us that time passes quickly. It's an easy thing to forget because we don't talk much about death. But it's coming and nothing we can do will stop its eventual arrival.
So, ask a friend to write your obituary and to put in an envelope. Take it away with you for a weekend. Remove all distractions and excuses that could get in the way of serious thinking.
Sit down alone with your thought and read it.
If you believe it, if it's what you would want others to say about you, and if you are happy with how your contribution is perceived, keep doing what you are doing. If it's sycophantic, you may want to ask someone else.
If on the other hand, like Mr. Nobel, you don't like what you read, feel a warm glow for a moment. Not from being happy with the content - but from knowing that you still have time to do something about it.
Then get out and live the life you want to live.
Then maybe, just maybe, the obituary you would have wanted to have heard will be one that your friends and family hear when you're no longer around.