Today, I want to tell you a rather whimsical story — one that calls for a little imagination. But I promise, nothing complicated.

Imagine you’ve been randomly selected and become the grand winner of a magical lottery.
A strange lottery, in fact — one you never signed up for and never even asked to join.
But here you are: today is your lucky day, and you are the winner.

This lottery, however, comes with a few simple but non-negotiable rules:

• Every morning, exactly $86,400 is deposited into your bank account — no more, no less.
• At midnight, whatever you haven’t spent simply disappears.
• No savings allowed, no transfers to another account, no cash withdrawals to stash away.
• The next morning, your account is credited again with $86,400 — free for you to spend however you wish, or to let vanish when the clock strikes twelve.
• There’s another twist: the organizer will never tell you how many days this gift will last. He can stop the payments at any moment, and when that day comes, it’s over for good. Your account will be closed — without warning, without explanation.

A lottery invented by a madman, you might say? Perhaps.
But still — you’d receive a generous sum every day, to spend freely, with no accountability, and each morning it would all start over again.
Sure, the game will end one day, but isn’t that all the more reason to make the most of it?

If this magical lottery really existed, what would you do with the money each day?
And what would your mindset be every morning when you wake up?
“Another terrible day… I’ll have to spend almost $90,000 again”?
Or rather: “Amazing! Another wonderful day ahead — I can buy whatever I want and discover new things!”

You’d probably start with the obvious: pay off your debts, buy what you’ve always dreamed of, give gifts to your loved ones, travel the world — maybe even donate some to those in need.
The only limit would be your imagination… and the rule that one day, your account will close.

And if, one day, someone stole €480 from you — would you really care? Probably not.
It would be insignificant, painless, because you’d still have so much left to spend.
And anyway, the next morning, the full amount would appear again!
You’d have to be insane to say: “Someone stole €480, so to be safe, I’ll burn the remaining €85,920 so no one else can touch it.”

But perhaps you’re starting to think this story is a bit far-fetched? Absurd, surreal, completely implausible?

And yet — this lottery does exist.
This bank account is real.
It just doesn’t count in dollars — it counts in seconds.

• From the moment you’re born, you inherit an account of time.
  Every morning, it is credited with 86,400 seconds — 24 hours — every single day.
• At midnight, no matter who you are — your social class, your wealth, your fame — you cannot save those seconds, nor give them away. They are gone, forever.
  Fortunately, the next morning, your account is replenished again with 86,400 brand-new seconds.
• And one day, that account will close permanently — without notice — and the game of life will end for you.

A little more frightening now, isn’t it?
Yet it’s the same game — we simply changed the unit.

Just like before, you are free to spend your time on yourself, on your loved ones, or to give some of it to those in need.
And as in the first version of the story — if someone “steals” 480 seconds (that’s eight minutes) — you’d be crazy to waste the remaining 85,920 seconds, right?

Eight minutes.
That’s the average physiological duration of anger in your body after interpreting an external event:
a reckless driver cutting you off, an argument with your kids or a friend, bad news on TV — it doesn’t matter.
And yet, who hasn’t said, “You just ruined my whole day,” or “Great, my weekend is ruined”?
Objectively, isn’t that just as absurd as burning all your remaining daily money?

So why don’t we just move on and focus on the seconds still ahead before the end of the day?
Why don’t we remember, as Nietzsche would say in Latin, Memento Mori — remember that you are mortal, or more simply: remember that your account will one day be closed, without warning.

This little story, or parable, has existed for a long time under the name “The Magic Bank Account.”
I’ve simply written my own version here.
It has no clearly identified author — though some attribute it to French writer Marc Levy — and versions of it appear in other books as well.

Wherever it came from, remember it when you’re having a bad day.
Remember it when you wake up in a sour mood.
Another brand-new day — where life offers you, unconditionally, 86,400 seconds to spend however you wish.
Smile — you’re alive :)

Behind this realism lies a philosophy that makes the game gentler: Amor Fati.
“Love your fate,” said Nietzsche.
Don’t resign yourself — embrace every penny, every second of your day.
Stop negotiating with the rain, the chaos of external events, and the delays (against your own time).

The truth is, living is not a savings project.
It’s a daily expenditure, paid in cash — in seconds that ignite and fade away.
Some might say, “But what’s the point?” or “Why bother?” or “What’s the purpose?”
In other words: “What’s the purpose of life?”

This question haunts everyone who spends even a little time reflecting on their existence.
It took me nearly forty years to find an answer that fits me.
The purpose of life is simply to live it.
To stop believing you’ll really start living when you’re grown up, or retired, or rich, or when you’ve achieved your goals.
The goal is simply to live — one second at a time.

Of course, not all of the 86,400 seconds that life offers you each day are fully yours to spend — you’ll need some for sleeping, eating, moving.
But still, a portion of that time remains entirely under your control.

For how long, though? How many more days?
If you don’t know, I’ve built a simple calculator to estimate how many “free” minutes you have left to live, based on your rhythm.
Do it — out of curiosity, honesty, or tenderness for your future evenings.
→ Calculate it here.

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