Toward the beginning of my training and development career, I began teaching FranklinCovey’s time management course, FOCUS, inside of the organization in which I worked. One of the most powerful exercises was a timeline in which we created quite a mortal standpoint on life by writing “Birth” on the left end, “Death” on the right, and marking lines in between to note significant events that had happened along the way. By identifying those events, and thinking about the lessons they learned from each event, students were able to get a clearer picture of their growth during the path of their lives.
However, the main purpose of this activity is to place a mark on the line where we see ourselves “now” and talk about what we want to accomplish between “now” and death. It was always interesting to see where people marked themselves on the line – some marked themselves closer to “Birth” and some marked themselves closer to “Death.” Where would you place yourself today?
Another discussion point I added in this class was that we have no way of changing the past; we cannot make it different than it was. And regret does nothing but take away from the energy that we have to move forward. The best we can do is LEARN from it, and move forward in a way that allows us to USE it to make positive changes in our lives.
We get to choose how we live our lives. We may not have control over external events or the impact they have on us, but on a daily basis, we get to choose how we respond. Decision to decision, we get to choose how we acknowledge and interact with others, how we work, how we take care of the world around us, how we drive, how we serve.
I am intentional about leaving things better than I found them. Not only do I refuse to litter, but I also pick up more than my share. I choose to build people up instead of breaking them down. I help people discover their strengths and learn how to apply them in their work. I help companies get better results – from developing leadership, to building cohesiveness in teams, to improving use of technology through discovering and employing more of its functionality. I help people see the strengths in one another so they can begin to value and leverage those strengths.
I’m not perfect, I make mistakes and I have a lot to learn, but the intention is always there – it’s one of my values. What do you value?
When talking through goals, I hear people say things like, “I always wanted to…” or “If I just had time, I would…” If you find yourself saying these things, just know that IT’S NEVER TOO LATE. You can Start Now. What is it you want to accomplish? How do you want people to remember you? What is something you’ve always wanted to do, that you’ve put off long enough? How is it you can better use your gifts to create a lasting, positive impact on the world around you? Write it down, break it down into steps and start today to do the things that will help you to accomplish that goal.
One of my favorite quotes is a statement made by Henry David Thoreau, “Oh, to reach the point of death and realize one has never lived at all.” Look for new opportunities, every moment of every day, to give back to the world. Life is fleeting…make a choice to use your experiences, both good and bad, to help create a better tomorrow.