Write Your Obituary

This is going to seem a bit dark, but I think that the perspective that it provides is valuable and ultimately positive and helpful so stick with me here.

One day, you're going to die.

Me too. One day, I'm going to be dead.

One of the things that happens when a person dies is that the local newspaper publishes their obituary. A person's obituary is an attempt to summarize that person's life in a paragraph or two. In the space of 200 to 450 words, you get to tell the world what you accomplished and what you valued.

Well, ok, typically YOU don't get to write your own obituary. Usually someone close to you does it for you since, you know, you're dead. It's up to that person or those people to summarize your life for you.

Ok, how?

So what do you write in an obituary? What should you say about a person that you cared deeply for to help other people understand them? There are many, many online resources that give examples for how to write an obituary.

Typically, you list the person's surviving family, information about their funeral or memorial service, instructions for donations or remembrances. Also included is a brief description of what the person dedicated their life to, a list of significant personal or professional accomplishments, and any public, military, or humanitarian service that the person was involved with during their life.

In short, you describe how the person made the world a better place.

Let's do this.

It's unlikely that you'll know the time and place of your death, let alone the accommodations for people to attend your funeral and/or memorial service, so we'll take a pass on that for now. You do, however, have a great deal of influence over the description of how you made the world a better place. That part is entirely up to you. Let's focus on that.

Writing your own obituary is going to force you to think about what you want to do to make the world better. It forces you to prioritize your life's work. It brings clarity to the "why" of your life and to what you truly value.

It also give you a path to follow. Maybe you haven't finished that thing that you want to have in your obituary. Maybe you haven't yet built a school for kids in Tanzania. Maybe you aren't volunteering at the local homeless shelter. Maybe you should get on that.

Search the web for examples of obituaries to get an idea for the sort of things that people include and think about your own. Then sit down and start writing your own. It will be tough and will likely take a long time, but you'll gain a tremendous sense of clarity and focus when you're done.