Lexicon: Memento Mori

The Etymology

From the Latin imperative: "Remember (Memento) that you must die (Mori)." In Roman triumphs, a slave would supposedly stand behind the victorious general, whispering this phrase to prevent him from being consumed by hubris.

The Definition

While the Romans viewed it as a check on arrogance, the Ancient Greeks viewed it as a mental discipline. In Plato’s Phaedo, Socrates argues that true philosophy is nothing but "the practice of death" (melete thanatou).

To Socrates, "death" was the separation of the soul (reason/intellect) from the body (distraction/passion). Therefore, to "practice death" while alive means to detach yourself from the trivial desires of the body—hunger, status, petty emotion—so that your mind can see the Truth clearly.

• The Amateur clings to life and is terrified of losing it.
• The Philosopher practices "dying" every day by stripping away what doesn't matter, so that when the end comes, they are ready.

The Corporate Application

In business, we act as if we have infinite time. We schedule meetings for "next quarter," we tolerate toxic clients, and we delay bold decisions. Memento Mori is the ultimate prioritization tool.

1. The "Pre-Mortem" Strategy The psychologist Gary Klein developed a strategy based on this logic. Instead of asking "What might go wrong?", you assume the project has already died.

• The Exercise: "It is one year from now. The project was a total disaster. Write down the history of that disaster."
• The Result: By treating failure as a certainty (a "death"), you see the risks clearly that you were ignoring when you were optimistic.

2. The Urgency of Now Marcus Aurelius wrote: "You could leave life right now. Let that determine what you do and say and think." If you truly believed this was your last year leading this team:

• Would you still hold that 3-hour status meeting?
• Would you still worry about that one negative email?
• Would you finally launch the product you've been hoarding?

Death destroys the non-essential. Use it to clean your calendar.