Live with the End in Mind



I was seventeen and getting ready to start my senior year. At a leadership camp, I was sitting with other seniors and the group leader told us to imagine where we wanted to be 10 years from our high school graduation. Next, he asked us to imagine our lifetime.

Then he had us do something odd—write our own obituary.

It’s a harder assignment than you might think. After a lifetime, how do you want to be remembered? 







Here’s a little seasoned advice:

Live your life with the end in mind. Ending well requires living well.

Living well requires making good investments. And I’m not talking just financial investments.

I’m talking about investing in people.

You may educate yourself in one city or another, you may work in a variety of places, but everywhere you go, there will be people. Challenge yourself to be someone people respect and want to be around. 


Be the one who helps out. 

Be the one who offers some laughter and the one people look forward to seeing.

Be the one who works hard, even when the work IS hard.

Be the one with the integrity to leave a place better than you found it.

Most likely it will be a long time before your obituary is read. 

 You have time to be someone people will remember fondly. 
It's not always easy, but it will be worth it in the end.

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