Jodi Wellman Reminds Us "You Only Die Once" So Make Your 4000 Mondays Count

A few weeks the NewYork Times published an article, written by Emily Labor-Warren, that examined the practice of conducting something called a life review.    It was in the article that host Michael Azevedo learned about the life and work of Jodi Wellman, his guest on this episode of Making Media Now.   The Times’ article begins by laying out a bit of Jodi’s story: Jodi Wellman was devastated when her mother died of a heart attack at age 58. Cleaning out her apartment made her feel even worse. Drawers and closets overflowed with abandoned projects: unpublished manuscripts and business cards for ventures that had never gotten started.  

At the time, Jodi was in her early 30s, living in Chicago and working her way up the corporate rungs at a fitness club chain. But, over the course of five years, that work began to feel empty.

Determined not to stagnate like her mother, Jodi quit her job to become an executive coach, eventually entering a master’s degree program in positive psychology. There, she developed a strategy for living fully: Think about death, a lot.

Now also a speaker and the author of “You Only Die Once,” Jodi believes that focusing on how short life is makes you less likely to squander it. 

To help her clients figure out how to spend their limited time, she asks them dozens of questions, organized by life phase — things like what activities made them happiest as a child, and what they would change about their 40s and 50s.

Her approach is a twist on the practice of conducting a “life review,” where people systematically reflect on their past, through conversations or in writing, to identify character strengths and develop self-awareness and acceptance.

In addition to being a speaker, coach, and author, Jodi is the force behind the website Four Thousand Mondays which helps visitors vividly calculate approximately how many Mondays they have left and use that information as a catalyst to live life on purpose, inspired and totally alive.

Jodi joined Michael from her home in Palm Springs, CA. 

Making Media Now is sponsored by Filmmakers Collaborative, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting media makers from across the creative spectrum. From providing fiscal sponsorship to presenting an array of informative and educational programs, Filmmakers Collaborative supports creatives at every step in their journey.   About the host: www.writevoicecreative.com and https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-azevedo/   Sound Engineer: A.J. Kierstead