Begin With the End In Mind - Tips to Make Your Life More Meaningful


What would you change if you knew you would be dead in 1 day? Would you spend more time at work, pouring over budget figures, and trying to figure out how you were going to make this quarter's numbers? Would you read just 1 more e-mail from a complaining co-worker? Would you check your voicemail one last time? What would your obituary say about your life?

If you're like me, I'd bet you wouldn't do anything work-related. In fact, I would bet you would see if there was any way to extend that 1 day into 6 months or more, because there is SO much you have yet to accomplish. You would vow to make a difference in your family, with your friends, in your community, maybe even in the world. Maybe you'd see if you could sky dive, climb Pike's Peak, or snorkel the Great Barrier Reef.

If you knew when the end was, I'd guess you would do all those things you've been meaning to do, but that you just never had the time to do.

Guess what? You won't know when the end is, so you better start living like you were dying today! Dr. Steven Covey, in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People talks about how we each must begin with the end in mind. This is as valuable advice for your life, just as it is valuable for goal setting, projects, or anything else you do in your work.

Take the time to write your personal mission statement. Franklin Covey has a great free tool to help you do this, located at http://www.franklincovey.com/missionbuilder/

I strongly encourage you to take 30-40 minutes to build your personal mission statement, your team mission statement, and share this with others that you feel may benefit from this life clarity.

Now that you have this clarity what will you do to make your life better on a daily basis? My goal is to pack the rest of the book full of little things you can do to take control of your life and Make It Great!I hope you are able to glean one or two nuggets that you can immediately put to work in your family, your life, your world, and that after finishing this book, you are ready to Make it Great! Think about the one thing you can you do to make your life better right now?

Then do it right now and do whatever it takes to Make It Great!

Phil Gerbyshak leads a team of people as manager of an IT Help Desk in Milwaukee, WI, and finds that sharing his knowledge is a crucial component for success as a leader and as a person. Phil's personal philosophy is paraphrased from Tim Sanders' fantastic book Love is the Killer App: "Share your knowledge, your network, and your love. The rest will follow."

Feel free to contact Phil at http://makeitgreat.org or call 414.640.7445 anytime.

MORE RESOURCES:
RELATED ARTICLES
Anamcara - Being Forever Enough
When was the last time you felt you were enough just as you are? When was the last time you felt that you were seen as the being you are? When was the last time you felt unconditionally loved and loving?When was the last time you felt life was itself enough? There was nothing to be added. There was nothing to be taken way.
To Thine Own Self
Direct Answers - Column for the week of December 6, 2004Someone gave me a bit of advice, and I'm doing my best to get my head wrapped around it, trying to understand and comprehend and translate it into my own life. What does it mean to "follow your own heart"?LisaLisa, Dante's "Divine Comedy" opens with the author saying, "Midway in the journey of our life, I found myself in a dark wood, for the straightforward path had been lost.
No More Frustration: The Thorns of Opportunity - Part II
The quest for the ultimate victory.In part one I shared with you how not knowing what you don't know, much like the "thorny" gardener, can rob you of your time, and keep you from enjoying and living the life you want.
Motivational Posters - A Source Of Inspiration?
What Inspires You? What motivates you to get up in the morning? Are you one of those people who have a burning desire to achieve something or are you drifting along doing your daily routine? This is something you may not have put much attention on or even any at all but, if you look closely, you may find that there may have been one or more people who have inspired you in your life.Any person who has been successful at something will tell you something like, my grandma always said?or my dad always gave me the best advice, or someone once said to me?! Get the picture?Words can be very powerful in influencing our lives.
Starting A New Disaster Relief Program
I believe that it is an amazing time in our history. Mankind is truly showing his/her capabilities, they are observable because all thoughts are brought into physical being as symbols of thought.
Iron Man Inspiration - Raise The Ceiling On What You Can Achieve
The Florida Iron Man involves swimming 2.4 miles, biking 112 miles and running 26.
A Key In Hand Is Worth A Thousand On My Desk
A key fault I have, and I can only talk about one fault at a time, is the tendency to get busy. I often find myself chasing my own tail.
Dont Die With Your Dreams Still Inside You
I write and talk a lot about dreams. Primarily because I know we serve an awesome and amazing God, who gave us dreams for an awesome and amazing purpose.
A Word Fitly Spoken ~ Acceptance
A WORD FITLY SPOKENA word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver. Proverbs 25:11I expect to pass through this world but once.
Commitment To The Journey
I have been a business owner for about a minute. In fact, that would probably be quite generous if you compared me to the business moguls out here or anywhere for that matter.
Using Appreciation to Make a Difference
When in 1996 a local Secondary School opened, the staff decided to create a tradition to prepare Christmas Hampers for those in need. Each advisory class (of around 18 students G9-12) would adopt a family to help out.
The Tiniest of Gladiators
I stared into those biggest of navy blue eyes and felt the power of his fighting spirit, despite the pain and week long raging fever. Most of the time my heart was in my throat and my mind was awash with counter-productive thoughts like, "why him?" and "this isn't fair!"This wasn't helping him to be sure (my daughter was much stronger than I), but in spite, he not only survived the arduous ordeal, but he emerged the victor!I am talking about my infant grandson, Corbin Nicolas, clobbered with a serious infection of the lymph glands.
Boarded Windows
You know how images trigger emotions? You can see something that can leave you warm and fuzzy for hours or fill you with hope and wonder for days.Something that has always struck me as sad has been closed, boarded-up shops and businesses.
Neither A Borrower
Direct Answers - Column for the week of November 4, 2002I moved from Los Angeles to Europe with my husband and children. My sister's husband left her with three children.
Winning the Thought Battle
If you have read my articles or heard me speak, you know that I always come down to action. We need to act if we are going to be successful!Yet, our success starts long before our actions.
How You Can Change Your Destiny
The outer conditions of a person's life will always be found to be harmoniously related to his inner state. ~James Allen, As A Man ThinkethThe world you live in arises from the world within.
Everyone Has Been Hurt...Part 2
continued..
In the Eyes of a Child
It was way past 10:00 pm when I came home from a grueling day of schoolwork and extracurricular activities. The wind was rustling about overhead as I paced through the door of our humble abode.
Information -- Schminformation, Enough Already!
We are drowning in it, our grey matter is swollen with it, half the time when we need a piece of it and we know it is "in there" somewhere, we can't access it because the poor Grey Matter Computer is so jammed it takes forever to search for the file and then it's usually "just lost" or was mistakenly deleted. And that's just our brains.
Repeat Offender
Direct Answers - Column for the week of July 8, 2002I am a 26-year-old escort, in the business on and off since I was 14. I have a tendency to get involved in very bad relationships.