The 'Fair Play' Mortality Test
Live so that if told you'd die next week, you could honestly shout 'fair play'
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Time to result
- ~ongoing to results
- Steps
- 5
- Confidence
- 62%
The 'Fair Play' Mortality Test is a recurring gut-check James Smith and a friend invented over beers: if a doctor told you, in front of your loved ones, that you'd die in a week, could you shout as loud as you can 'fair play'? If yes, you're living well; if not, you need to change how you live. The mechanism is a vivid memento-mori frame that surfaces regret before it accumulates. Smith uses it to justify prioritising the present over deferred gratification — spending on a meaningful dinner over stocks, refusing to 'bring tomorrow's problems to today,' and rejecting the save-it-all-for-retirement blueprint. He notes most people couldn't honestly say 'fair play,' which is exactly the signal to change course. It's a decision rule, not a one-off thought: re-run it and adjust.
Origin
James Smith and a friend agreed one night that if either learned they were dying, they'd have to shout 'fair play'; if they couldn't say it honestly, they had to change how they lived. Smith wrote it into Not a Life Coach as a spur to live in the present.
Core principles
- 01A vivid death frame exposes how you're really living
- 02If you'd have regrets on hearing the news, change now
- 03Deferring life to 'later' risks never arriving
- 04The present is the only tense you actually control
- 05Living fully now beats hoarding for a future that may not come
How to run it
- 1
Set the scene
Vividly imagine sitting with family and loved ones when a doctor tells you you have one week to live.
Watch out If mortality imagery triggers real distress for you, use a gentler regret-review instead.
- 2
Apply the 'fair play' check
Ask honestly whether you could shout 'fair play' — a genuine acceptance that you lived fully — rather than feeling cheated or regretful.
- 3
Name the regrets
If the answer is no, identify specifically what you'd regret not doing, being, or experiencing.
Pro tip Look for deferred dreams you've been saving 'for later' — those are the clearest targets.
- 4
Reallocate toward the present
Shift money, time, and attention toward what matters now instead of hoarding for a future that isn't guaranteed.
Pro tip Smith would rather spend on a meaningful dinner with friends than defer it into savings.
Watch out This is about reducing regret, not reckless spending — weigh it against genuine obligations.
- 5
Re-run periodically
Treat it as a repeating audit, not a single epiphany, checking whether recent choices still pass the test.
In the wild
Smith says he'd rather spend money on 'a pretentious dinner with my friends' than invest it, because the save-it-for-later mentality fails the fair-play test for him. By repeatedly asking whether he could shout 'fair play' if his time were up, he consistently steers spending and attention toward present experiences rather than a deferred future he isn't guaranteed to reach.
→ A life he can honestly endorse in the moment rather than one banked on a distant payoff.
Common mistakes
Saving it all for the end
Deferring meaning to retirement overlooks the best part of life and risks never getting to spend the reserve you built.
Treating it as a one-off thought
A single dramatic reflection fades; the value comes from re-running the test and actually adjusting behaviour.
Is it for you?
Best for
Anyone stuck on a default life path who wants a gut-check on whether they're actually living well now.
Not ideal for
People prone to anxiety or rumination who may find vivid mortality framing distressing rather than clarifying.
From the transcript
“If we ever found out that we're going to die we had to look at each other... we had to say as loud as you…”
“I don't think there are many people out there that can say fair play if they were going to find out they're going to die…”
From the episode
How To Design A Life You Love - James Smith - #205
James Smith