A few things have happened this week which has caused me to stop and reflect – and it is has been in these moments of reflection where I have really contemplated time and the amount of time we all have on this earth, and how important it actually is in terms of how we use it. Now without getting all metaphysical, when it is all said and done, time is really the only thing we have, it is a finite resource, and the clock keeps ticking. And so I ended up asking myself what I now consider to be a very profound question – ‘when the last grain of sand passes through my hourglass, what will be my legacy?’. I then asked myself 3 further important questions :

Did I live?

Did I love?

Did I matter?

Attempting to answer these 4 questions brought up an interesting mix of emotions and thoughts – from sheer frustration, fear and doubt, right through to excitement, contentment and fulfilment. It really got me thinking about all the ‘things’ I do on a day to day basis, who I speak with, who I spend my time with,  what conversations I have, what I choose to focus on and what I consider to be important versus trivial. And it lead me to this :

“What if I had the opportunity to start living my Eulogy right now?”

What an incredible concept. Have you noticed that when people pass on, their eulogies tend to focus on the celebration of their life in a very different way to how we measure and define success in everyday life?  It is very rarely about the number of sales they made during their career, how many houses they purchased, what their stock portfolio comprised of, or what type of car they drove. And yet every day, people are often measuring their ‘success’ based on these things, getting consumed by their work, by the insatiable desire to get ahead and succeed at all costs, and missing the opportunity to recognise the things and the people that truly sustain us. It is like we sometimes pass through time at such a frantic pace, that we miss living our life, even as we live it – until it is too late.

So I sat down and imagined myself standing at my own funeral, delivering my eulogy, knowing that the eulogy is  my legacy, it is what  people will remember me by, and how I will continue to live in the hearts and minds of the people I love. I must say, it was a very enlightening experience. Interestingly enough, it did not include things like :

‘He was very dedicated to the companies he worked for and prided himself on working extraordinarily long hours’ or ‘The presentation documents he prepared were meticulous, always colourful and filled with critical information’ or ‘he rewarded himself with a beautiful Mercedes Benz after working 12 months on a very strategic sale’.

The eulogy was all about answering those 3 questions outlined above, Did I live? Did I love? and Did I matter? When I started writing down the answers to these 3 questions, all of a sudden a huge cloud began to lift and for the first time in a very long time, I became really clear on why I am here.  And the reason I’m here is not actually about me! It is about others & how I serve others! Author and leadership expert, John C Maxwell said it really well, when he said : ‘there are 2 significant moments in a person’s life -1) the day they were born, and 2) the day they discover why they were born’. What a powerful and empowering concept.

So I ask you the question – are you living your Eulogy?  Are you really clear on why you are here? How will people be speaking about you when you leave this physical world?  If you were to sit down and ask yourself those 3 powerful questions, did I live, did I love, did I matter, what would your answers be?

Remember, each of us has a finite amount of time, and it is so important as to how we use it. Will you look back on your life with pride and satisfaction, or will you look back on your life with regret? Regret for the opportunities you declined, regret for the opportunities you missed, regret for the time you didn’t spend with the people most precious to you?

Use your time well – invest in developing your Eulogy, and rather than wait until the end of your life to have it communicated, live it now, share it with the people closest to you. I guarantee you will look at your life with a completely different set of eyes, and be blown away by the difference you will be able to make in the lives of others. You will certainly be living, you will be loving, and you definitely will matter!!

To your continued success, and to your outstanding Eulogy!

Darren

darren@potentialunleashed.com.au