Start writing your tombstone. #278

Have you ever wondered to yourself what your tombstone might read? What got me thinking along such mortal lines was a business course I took years ago which encouraged setting three, five and ten year goals before picturing yourself in a coffin and planning out the details of your funeral from what kind of food you would have all the way up to the eulogy. The point of the exercise was to have a daily course of action which correlated with the impact your death would have on the community or on a larger scale, the world. If you envisioned having your family there mourning, it might occur to you to investigate how your relationship with them is doing. Who showed up to it and what they said about you would directly correspond with how you lived your life. Maybe all you wanted was money so you were ok with not many people caring or having bad relationships. Perhaps you were highly involved in your community which would result in the attendance of many other community leaders as well as the many lives you’ve impacted in your efforts to enrich the local ecosystem. When your friends and family spoke about you, your values would be illuminated. Whether you were known for your hard work, your kindness and how you treated people would all be predicated on what you did in the days past.

The fact of the matter is, that every day is spent “writing our tombstone” through our actions and efforts towards what we truly value. By recognizing this, we can have greater direction and purpose towards how we spend our time. We’ve all made an appointment that was months and months in advance only to have it show up what seems like the very next day. Point being, although our death may seem very far away and I wish this to be true for you, it is coming and when it arrives will you embrace it willingly or will you be tormented by regret until your last breath. Many entrepreneurs know that a successful outcome is reliant on having a solid plan, and while it may seem somewhat morbid for some to be planning for your death, it is the most reasonable way to live your life the way you truly want. It might incentivize you to treat people more kindly, give a hug to the ones you love and really go after whatever it is that you wish to do with your life. They say “plan for the future” and death is one that we certainly all share, so why not make it as great as you can and paint the picture you want for yourself. Whether you want to or not, you are by how you live your life every day.