Following the untimely deaths of Apple Founder Steve Jobs, 56 and England cricketer Graham Dilley, 52 in the last 24 hours this month’s tip is a little different to the one I had intended to write. Reading their obituaries and listening to their eulogies has made me think longer term than my planned tip. These men were both relatively young yet they leave behind some fantastic achievements. They have made an impact on the world. An impact that extends beyond their immediate families and network.
When your turn comes (and I hope it won’t be for many years) how will your obituary read? Will you have left your mark on the world you leave behind? Will your legacy be what you wanted it to be? We can’t put off going for our goals or we may run out of time. The humdrum and the routine fills our time and we get to the end of the year with the same unfulfilled goals as we started with. Time flies.
What happened to 2011? Here we are in October with less than 300 days to the opening ceremony of the London Olympics yet it doesn’t seem more than a couple of years since the announcement naming London as the venue in seven years. We can’t manage time but we can manage what we do with it. If we don’t get a grip now there is a danger that we will never make the impact we would like to make. Our legacy will not extend beyond our immediate families.
So my tip for October: write your obituary and then live the life you have described. I’m not being morbid. This is just a way of getting you to focus on what things are really important to you. When you know what those are you can then make sure that you devote your time and resources appropriately. If you spend at least one hour every day on focused activity directly linked to your goals you will make real progress. If you think about who or what can help then you can put those things in place to help you achieve those ambitions..
Why not post your ‘obituary’ as a comment here? Date it for many years in the future (I’m going to date mine so that I am at least a 100!). Writing this vision down and sharing it is the first step towards making it happen and another step towards the legacy you want to leave. Now go on and get on with living your life to the full and may you achieve all the goals you set yourself.
