Hey, quick heads-up. I know a lot of you skim (no judgment) and maybe just want to listen instead of reading. If that’s you, that’s fine.
But… if you stick around, we’ve got something fun: ENGAGEMENT PRIZES!
🅱️3 readers can win FREE access to the paid tier of Karen Salmansohn’s
. Everyone who’s leaving a comment, sharing this podcast on Notes or forwarding this to a friend can win!Plus, with the code
KARENFRIEND
you’ll get 40% off The Substack Notes Bootcamp (and Karen will hopefully join us there too).
So now let’s talk about today’s guest.
Today’s podcast guest is behavioural change expert and bestselling author (2M books sold!)
.Karen doesn’t shy away from the truth:
“So, you’re alive. Congrats. Now what’s your game plan?”
Her mission is simple: to help you dust off your “Someday” goals and build a life that’s more than wake, work, and worry.
She calls herself a Middle-of-Life Doula (and sometimes a Beginning-of-Life Doula too). Her work is about mortality awareness as fuel.
“Life is short. And when you realize you don't have like 700 bonus years stored away in a drawer somewhere, and if you want to do something, you've got to do it now, it lights a fire under your tush. It's about the ripples you leave.
If you share freely of yourself, you will leave a very big ripple. But if you don't share fully of yourself, then a very small ripple will be left behind.”
That’s the heartbeat of her new book, Your To-Die-For Life.
Psst! If you order her book, you’ll also get a FREE gift from her (I’m not an affilate. Just love her book, although I almost died reading it, but you’ll hear more in today’s pod).
As Karen shared in our interview:
“(…) Start off writing your own eulogy (…) We write five-year business plans, but we don’t write a mission statement for our life. Aristotle said: if you want to live a good life, you have to imagine who you want to be on your deathbed. Begin with the end in mind and then reverse engineer it.”
How I Found Karen Salmasohn
This all started with an article she wrote: Death is Like Getting Laid Off from the Best Job Ever published in The Stand Up Philosopher: Weighty Musings, Lightly Served.
Tribe member and viral Bootcamp alum
(86yo!) shared it.
It hit me so deeply that I reached out right away to ask for an interview.
Only later did I realize how wildly successful she is.
1M followers on Facebook
30,000 Substack subscribers
Featured on Oprah, CNN, Psychology Today, and the New York Times
Even Deepak Chopra praises her writing style:
So the numbers and the praise didn’t drew me in.
It was that personal essay and the way it made me stop, think, and want to bring her to you.
Funny thing: in our conversation, we didn’t talk about social media at all. (I know, you expected something different from me.)
Instead? We talked about me falling off the hammock while reading her book… and (since I almost died)… death. Or actually… life. Your life.
🎙️ Can’t wait any longer and want to listen to the full conversation?
The Marble Jar That Stopped Me in My Tracks
I interviewed her from my attic at the West Coast oif Germany, while she was sitting high up in a sleek skyscraper in New York City.
But if you look closer at her window shelf, you’ll notice something unexpected…
Karen bought 432 marbles and two glass jars.
Jar #1: The Future → all 432 marbles went in.
Jar #2: The Past → empty at first.
Each month, she transfers one marble from Future to Past.
Visual and nforgettable. That’s from her book, too.
Join The Live Writing Workshop With Karen: Write With The End In Mind (& Euology)
📅 September 23
🕘 4 PM Berlin | 3 PM UK | 10 AM ET | 7 AM PT | 12 AM Sydney (Sept 24)
Inside the members-only session, Karen will
share her writing process,
why “writing your eulogy” is her favorite exercise, and
how you can use it to create your most meaningful work with “the end in mind”.
You’ll also have the chance to ask her your own questions in the Chat and Q&A.
Replay will be available!
Mortality Awareness: The “Live Now” Button
Karen calls mortality awareness your Live Now Button.
“Being mortal means there’s no time to dawdle, so start now & learn how to use death as a life hack!”
It sounds heavy, but research shows that reminders of death don’t depress us. They inspire us.
People get more generous.
They procrastinate less.
They choose kindness, courage, and authenticity.
For writers it’s gold. Every “someday” you delay is really a “no” to your dream. Mortality awareness reframes that.
It whispers, Do it now.
7 Highlights From My Conversation With Karen
✅The Identity Trick That Makes Habits Stick
“Your identity is the puppet master for your habits, not the other way around. Frank Sinatra sang Doobie Doobie Doo, but he’s a backwards personal development author. It’s be doobie doobie doo. First you have to own the identity to do the habits. And you’re more likely to do the habits if you own that as your identity.”
✅Seven Core Values That Erase the Regrets of the Dying
“I realized there were seven core values that if you do them, you will not die with the top regrets of the dying.
A = Authentic.
B = Brave.
C = Curious.
D = Discerning.
E = Empathic Love.
F = Fun.
G = Grateful.”
✅Why Humor Helps Us Handle Hard Things
“Studies say humor helps to free up your mind. One group got to watch serious videos, the other funny videos. Then they got puzzles to solve. The group that watched funny videos were better at problem solving because it loosens up your brain. Humor and playfulness are meditation on steroids. They help you deal with difficult topics better.”
✅Sloppy Copy Beats Perfect Chapter One
“I believe you have to get sloppy copy. Just get it out there. And then go in and polish it. And when you polish it, a lot of people start at chapter one. Just start at chapter 11, start at chapter two. Otherwise the front of the book starts off strong and then it’s all over the place.”
✅Why Karen Designs the Cover Before Writing the Book
“I do the cover of a book while I'm writing it. And now it's more easy for people to do that — you just go on Canva. It kind of gets me feeling like it's a book. And then that motivates me.”
✅The Secret to Books Readers Actually Flip Through
“Even if you don't have illustrations in your book, people still are visual without even knowing they're visual. You need to have short paragraphs and bullet points or single sentences. Make the page feel visual… so it feels like it's going to be easy to read. If your book has large paragraphs and somebody sees it in a bookstore, it's going to accidentally communicate, ‘This is a hard book to read.’”
Karen Answers Your Community Questions
Q: How do I deal with procrastination?
Karen: “Saying I don’t have enough time is like the adult equivalent of ‘the dog ate my homework.’ You do have time. You’re just not prioritizing it.”
Q: What if I get stuck trying to write perfectly?
Karen: “I believe you have to get sloppy copy. Just get it out there. And then go in and polish it.”
Q: How do I figure out what really matters in life?
Karen: “Nobody’s going to read your Google Calendar at your funeral. And nobody’s going to read your LinkedIn profile at your funeral. You know what they’re going to do? They’re going to tell stories that have to do with your core values.”
Q: What if I feel like I’m just drifting?
Karen: “The main one I recommend in the book is to start off writing your own eulogy… Begin with the end in mind and then reverse engineer it.”
Karen Reminded Me of Something Simple But Profound
“Writing your eulogy now helps you live the life you truly want, today.”
That’s why she’s teaching this writing class. And that’s why we gather in the Club…to write words that last, and to live more alive in the process.
See you (and Karen!) in class.
Take care,
P.S. Don’t forget: Order Your To-Die-For Life now and get a FREE gift. (No affiliate)
P.P.S. 🅱️ As an indie publisher, your feedback is a spark that keeps me going. Drop a comment to share your thoughts + win an engagement prize! 2–3 people can win FREE access to the paid tier of Karen Salmansohn’s The Stand Up Philosopher: Weighty Musings, Lightly Served
P.P.P.S. For some extra love 🔁, re-stack (share) this with a friend who might need to hear Karen’s message today! 🔁
Plus, with the code
KARENFRIEND
you’ll get 40% off The Substack Notes Bootcamp (and Karen will hopefully join us there too).
