Ben Wilson, host of the How to Take Over the World podcast, seemingly had it all going for him. A healthy marriage. Four kids under the age of five. A growing, successful show of his own, after years of producing other hits like My First Million, which is where I first heard his story.

Six weeks ago, he got a diagnosis that changed everything in an instant. Stage four cancer, spread into his lungs, spine, and brain. The kind of diagnosis where the odds simply aren't in your favor.

In a month and a half, he sold his home and moved closer to his doctors. He raised nearly $400,000 for medical expenses and his family. He got his will and estate planning in order. He's pursued both traditional and experimental treatment. His world flipped upside down in an instant.

Here's the part that stops me. As a Mormon, he never smoked or had a drink in his life. Most people in his position would have every reason to be angry at God, at the world, at the unfairness of it. Ben is choosing something else: optimism and hope.

For hope, he started a journal called Zero to 365. He's showing up for it every day he can, hoping his kids get to read a sequel to a story that isn't over yet. Instead of pessimism, he's choosing optimism, on purpose, one day at a time. He said, “If this is the way it ends, if I meet my maker sooner than I’d hoped, I will be excited about it, not afraid.

Sam Parr, co-host of the show, said something after that I haven't been able to shake: “I’m seeing a great man be great in real time and responding to the worst thing on earth in the most dignified, wise, and best way.”

My hope is that you and I never end up where Ben is. But if we do, I hope people can say the same thing about us: that we were an inspirational gift to see a great person be great in a challenging time.

And if we don't, maybe the thought of it changing in an instant is exactly what should supercharge how we live today. To love harder, to pray deeper, to serve more often. To attack the life we've got with courageous excellence, while we still have it.