Three Words

In the past four months I have watched death impact several lives.  One individual I didn’t know personally, but I know their parent.  Another was a relative of a dear friend.  Lastly, was an individual who was part of my formative childhood years.  The circumstances surrounding each passing were different, but one thread remained the same: Upon their death, people sought to convey the essence of their loved-one while they were alive.

We can all relate with wanting others to know about a person’s mark when their after-life crossing arrives.  Putting language to someone’s soul can be complicated.  None of us are the highlights or lowlights of our life.  We are the sum-total of our waking hours.  To winnow it down to a short phrase is challenging.  But it’s what a tombstone or epitaph requires.

My own dad has been gone for over 25 years.  One would think I could summarize his life succinctly after all these years.  But when I was given an opportunity this summer to purchase a memorial bench in my childhood playground, I struggled with the limitations the plaque allowed.  I only had a given amount of space to communicate a message about my dad.  After much thought, I ended up with this: David Fleming – A Noble Hearted Leader.  Brief, but true.

Given the recent deaths surrounding me and the memorial process for my dad, I thought about how our lives might be shaped if we pre-wrote the intended message for our lives.  If you had an allotment of three or four verbs and adjectives to describe the legacy you wish to imprint in the world, what would they be?  I think mine might say, “Devoted to Language.”  It could also say, “Advocate for the Unheard.”  Perhaps it would read, “Complicated Enigma.” 

In corporate environments, executives are coached on the necessity for brevity when creating mission statements.  If employees can’t recite it effortless, the odds of sustaining the purpose of the statement diminish.  A simple sentence can drive home the point.  Research a few organizations and you will get the concept.  One of my favorites is from TED, the Technology, Enterprise, and Design non-profit that now devotes its energy to expanding ideas globally.  Here is its mission statement: Spread Ideas.  Brilliantly simple because the powerful two words carry the water.  Two, three, or four words.  Think about how you want to define your life now.  The unfortunate part of epitaphs is that they are written after the fact.  Organizational mission statements, however, describe the current purpose.  As you think through your personal description, let’s end with three words I believe to be true about you: More Than Enough.

Changepoints:

Visit a cemetery, read an epitaph, or study a corporate mission statement:

·        What are the benefits of proactively writing a personal mission statement versus waiting for a post-life description?

·        How does the process of selecting a handful of chosen words create a focus around purpose and energy?

·        What will you manifest when your eyes are focused on the core of what you wish your legacy to be?

·        How will your time on earth be better aligned with your values if you determine the way you wish to pre-write your story? 

o   How does your lens affect which positives and negatives enter in?

o   What ways can you align your actions with your beliefs about yourself?

The concern about post-world accounting is that it is timebound.  The beauty of a present-day message is that it is flexible, expandable, and transformable.  Choose your words wisely. 

outSIGHTin, LLC: Creating awareness as a changepoint for improved organizational results.