He Done His Damnedest
One of Stephen Covey's "Seven Principles
of Highly Effective People" is Begin with the end
in mind. When I think about this principle, it comes to
mind that this is what a legacy is all about. Thinking about
what we want to leave behind helps us to live our lives in such
a way that we create that legacy each day. A quote I recently
came across made me think of how important each day is to our
legacy and what will remain of us once we are gone. The quote
was from a tombstone in Arizona that read, "Here lays Jack
Williams. He done his damnedest."
Recently I have been thinking of what I would
like to have engraved on my tombstone. Oddly enough there are
books and lots of websites with the epitaphs of famous and not
so famous people that provide an idea of what to say. Some epitaphs
tell about the type of life the person had, such as Bette Davis,
whose tombstone reads, "She did it the hard way."
Some tell about the way the person lived their life, such as
Jim Morrison, whose tombstone reads, "Kata ton daimona
eay toy" (true to his own spirit). I have decided I would
like "She made a difference" on my tombstone.
Regardless if you plan to have a tombstone or
not, or really even care what it says, putting into a sentence
or two how you want to be remembered is in keeping with Covey's
principle. If you have the end in mind, which in this case is
how you want to be remembered, you have the opportunity to create
that ending each day. Many people come to the end and have no
idea what their life was about or why they were here. That's
a sad ending indeed. I believe if you live your life as if this
is the day you will be remembered by, it will have a huge impact
on your actions and how you live life.
Not that death is a cheery thing to think about,
but there are worse things that can happen than dying. For me
it would be living without making a difference. For you it will
be something else. Whatever that something else is, you must
do it. Don't put off living your life until someday. I would
hate to have my tombstone read, "She meant to make a difference
but was waiting for someday."
Coach Rachelle Disbennett-Lee, PhD provides daily motivation,
information and inspiration to thousands of busy self development
enthusiast who want to stay focused and on track to their goals
through her award winning e-zine 365 Days of Coaching. For a
free report, "The Power of Daily Action - How to create
more Wealth, Health and Happiness by Tapping Into the Power
of Daily Action" go to http://www.365daysofcoaching.com/daily_action.htm.
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2005 True Direction, Inc.
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