It’s January 24, in the year 41 AD. You’re standing in the most powerful building of the era — the Roman palace. Looking around, you begin to understand why Rome was so great. Everything from the marble floors, magnificent statues, colossal pillars, and painted ceilings was designed with intricate precision. Out of the corner of your eye, you notice a pair of sandals underneath a large curtain a few feet to your right, and after taking a second look, you can see that someone is actually standing behind the curtain. Out of curiosity, you walk over to the curtain, pull it back a little, and see a man — late twenties to early thirties — crouching down with his hands over his head. He looks up at you with eyes as big as saucers, covers his lips with a finger, and says, “Shhh!”

And that is the story of how Tiberius Claudius Drusus Germanicus became the fourth emperor of the Roman Empire. A Praetorian guard found him hiding behind palace curtains and declared him the next emperor.

Claudius may have wished he was doing something a little more impressive when he was declared emperor. So live like something incredible could happen at any minute, because you never know what you’ll be doing when it does.