Jerry Seinfeld and Agatha Christie: Die Face-First
- 6 days ago
- 2 min read
When Danielle Steel was early in her writing career, Agatha Christie told her, "I want to die face-first on my typewriter."
Was she giving Danielle some advice? A note of caution? An indication that to make it in this writing game, you needed to be in it for the work, and just the work — not the money, not the praise, not the applause?
Or was she giving her a subtle indication that this was her life? That this craft, this game, this arena is where she wanted to spend every day of her life until she could no longer breathe, until her time had come.
Because Christie had what most dream of. The work wasn't work, the labor wasn't labor, and the discipline wasn't discipline. It was all joy and play. It was a walk in the park, a sunny day in December, and she wanted to experience those feelings every day of her life.
It's an interesting thought: maybe the goal of work isn't to stop working, but to find the work where you never want to stop working.
Jerry Seinfeld explained he wants to do stand-up comedy "into my 80s and beyond."
But to work until you die, to spend days in labor for your entire existence, is a message that the world turns off.
Isn't there a time to call it quits?
To finally enjoy your life?
To retire and live?
But what the world misses about Christie, about Seinfeld, is that it wasn't and never will be work. It's love. It's joy. It's beauty. It's harmony. It's peace.
And what is retirement anyway? Is it not an admission that the last four or five decades were spent on work or a craft that didn't matter?
But a craftsman, someone who does the work for the love of the craft, doesn't stop. The writer who loves writing will write forever. The composer who loves composing will compose forever. The runner who loves running will run forever—or until they physically can't.
And isn't that the goal? To do the thing, the work, the labor that you love...and do it forever. It doesn't mean you have to keep the same intensity and vigor, but if you won't do this thing forever—this thing that is consuming a third of your life—maybe it's time for a change.
Because like Christie, like Seinfeld, the goal is to die face-first...doing the craft you love.
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