[brd]

I think the thing that makes the Seneca/HN approach so effective is that it can be applied to the minutia. No one wants to look bad in front of their mentor, no matter how trivial the act is.

When you're on your deathbed most individual events will be irrelevant. Not to mention that it doesn't really work until you have a visceral appreciation of your mortality, something many younger people lack.

The deathbed concept I had heard frequently with little effect but reading that letter from Seneca had a profound impact on my decision making process.