What do you want your eulogy to say?
We don’t often like to think or talk about death, especially our own.
It forces us to think about the time we have left, and the time others didn’t get to have.
Loss, grief and anger we might have shoved aside can come crashing forward.
I went to a memorial recently and death is hard to ignore at a time like this.
But it also made me think about what I want my life to be and how I want to be remembered.
How I want to spend my time, what’s important to me, and whether I’m behaving in a way that reflects this.
The Funeral Exercise
In his acclaimed book, “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People”, Stephen R. Covey starts the chapter on ‘Habit 2: Begin with the end in mind’, with what has commonly become known as the ‘funeral exercise’.
He asks us to imagine going to a funeral that it turns out is for ourselves.
The timeframe is three years from now.
While it may seem quite soon, and perhaps terrifying, it gives us a clear timeframe and motivation for reflection and change.
Referring to the programme of eulogies, he asks us to think about four people to speak about us.
One each from close family, friends, work colleagues, and an organisation or community we belong to.
He encourages us to consider what kind of person they will remember.
What character did they see in us? What impact did we have on their lives?
How would you want to be remembered?
And what can you do to change your behaviour and relationships to enable this?
If you’d like support with this reflection and implementation process, get in touch for a conversation about how we can work together.
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