A terrible piece of advice I often hear repeated is to “live each day as if it were your last.” What a stupid thing to say.

As someone who would likely spend his last day having a panic attack and crying uncontrollably, my preferred standard is to live each day like you’ve just won a small amount of money on a scratch lotto ticket.

Wouldn’t you rather feel like a winner than like you’re standing at death’s door? This is a no-brainer.

“Live like you are dying” is too morbid. If you’re going that route, aspire to “live each day like you’ve just been told your cancer is in remission and a bright future awaits.” It might not be as good of a bumper sticker but it would lead to better life decisions.

This is the great lesson of the Cuban Missile Crisis (when most Americans believed nuclear war was imminent).

Birth rates showed that people living closest to suspected blast zones during the crisis had way more unprotected sex while people in remote areas (who were most likely to live through the aftermath) had hardly any unprotected sex at all.

Nobody wants to raise a nuclear fallout baby.

We’re all Cuban Missile Crisis babies when you stop to think about it, but the point remains that living today as if it were your last day is stupid. I understand the sentiment – to appreciate each moment without inhibitions, but inhibitions are what make life worth appreciating.

Without them we’d max out all of our credit cards, or be that annoyingly sentimental drunk guy telling everyone you love them, or be so blindly ambitious that we all end up dying on top of Mount Everest while waiting in line to take a selfie.

However you’d spend those last hours – it isn’t something you should strive to recreate – certainly not on a daily basis.

I wouldn’t even recommend living each day as if it were your last day of vacation. Frankly, the last vacation day kind of sucks. Our gold standard shouldn’t be cutting short our continental breakfasts to finish packing in time for checkout.

Enjoy the complimentary muffin. Or better yet, order something from the kitchen as if you’ve just won a small amount of money on a scratch lotto ticket.

I’m not talking about being the reckless Powerball winner who buys mimosas for the whole dining room or about merely winning your dollar back and letting it ride on another ticket.

I’m talking about winning a modest amount of money that is non-life-changing but changes your outlook for the day.

You don’t need to have won the office football pool to buy enough bagels to go around – try to add some spontaneous bits of joy to your life.

Acting like someone who’s won a small amount of money on a scratch lotto ticket is certain to put you in a better mood. You may still have financial hurdles but they seem a little less daunting.

You feel the wind of luck on your back. Perhaps you’re feeling extra generous – enough so to put a little extra in the barista’s tip jar or to add a bouquet of flowers in with the groceries to bring cheer into your home.

You’re now living with an inclination towards spontaneity that adds a jolt of joy into your life.

Winning a small amount of money on a scratch lotto ticket is a highlight to any day. You can’t help mentioning it no matter how bad the rest of the day went. It feels like the Gods are smiling down on you.

Say for example that you’ve just come from your mother’s funeral and someone asks how you’re doing. The natural response is to say, “I’m pretty upset. Mom just died.”

But if you just won $250 playing $hake, Rattle and Dough, you’ll add that “it was Mom’s way of letting me know that everything would be okay.”

Of course it is. Any bit of good fortune that lands in your lap is clearly preordained proof that you are somehow blessed. That’s a great mindset to have in life.

The best thing about winning is the certainty that you’re not a loser. We should all be fortunate enough to feel that way each and every day. Sure beats thinking about dying.

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