Hi meaningful leader,
Happy Tuesday! How was your weekend? I hope it was great, mine was busy and productive, but I did get some necessary R&R throughout the work.
For today I want to take a different approach and take you down a dramatic yet effective path for goal setting, shall we?
Based on Steven Covey’s 2nd habit (from his book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People) I want you to imagine the following scenario. Please keep an open mind and work through this. if you can close your eyes after reading the following scene and really immerse yourself into the story, even better…trust me, this exercise is extremely powerful:
You are attending the funeral of a loved one. You’re dressed in formal clothes and arrive to a large hall or funeral parlor. Your heart feels heavy with loss and remembrance. The place is packed and as you start to enter, you start to recognize some of the people in attendance. Some are very familiar to you. Really close family and friends. Others, you haven’t seen in years, old colleagues from your previous job that your haven’t spoke with in ages. Some are people from your neighborhood, like your next door neighbor, as well as age cashier at the local supermarket. They are all gather here and you can see sorrow in their expression. Some are lost in quiet contemplation; while others are gathered in small groups sharing fond memories with a mix of joy, sadness and nostalgia, all mixed into one.
As you come closer to the front of the room, you realize that there’s a casket in display. A beautiful piece made out of oak and fully lined with beautifully hand crafted interiors such as velvet and crepe. As you come closer, everything starts to make sense. This is your funeral, the person in the casket is you three years from today and the people in attendance have gathered here to honor and celebrate your life and legacy.
Before the religious service begins, you look at the program and realize there are to be four speakers:
1.- A close or extended family member, maybe your spouse or one of your kids. Maybe you father or mother, or an uncle or aunt.
2.- A close friend, someone that can share about the kind of friend you were to them and the memories you left with them.
3.- A colleage. Someone with whom you’ve shared your knowledge and experience and that has being part of the professional legacy your now leaving.
4.- A member of the team you led, someone who can attest about the type of leader you were and how you impacted the lives of the people who reported to you and worked alongside you each day.
Now think deeply and honestly about your life. What would you like each one of these speakers to say about you at your funeral? What’s the legacy you’d like to leave once your time here is over?
Like I mentioned previously, this is a powerful exercise to help you determine which core values are driving you or should be driving you.
Now, with these core values at hand, setting our goals and defining what success looks like for us is second nature. Difficult times don’t define our character, all they do is reflect it. If we are clear on who we are and what our contribution to this world is, then we know exactly what each one of these speakers will say at our funeral. It’s always up to us.
Legacy is crafted in the giving and in the service. Success is achieved in the satisfaction of giving our best and helping others do the same. It’s about the little things by which lives are changed forever.
What would these four speakers say about you? Would they remember you fondly or won’t even attend your funeral? The outcome is 100% up to you my friend.
What kind of perspective did you gain? I hope this article brings you to a stop and helps you to internalize if you’re headed in the right direction, I hope you are.
Remember, leadership gives us the platform to have significant impact in the lives of others, never waste the opportunity to make a positive impact, to inspire, to elevate and to build your legacy, one act of kindness at the time.
I hope this was valuable for you, if so, please comment, like and share with one person.
Have an amazing rest of the week, act in gratitude and kindness and God bless,
Maria
