Goals

• Remember how short and precious your life is
• Gain more clarity on what you want to do with it

Introduction

It's spooky season! What better way to get into the right mood for Halloween than being reminded of our inevitable demise? Imagine your own grave. Hopefully, it'll be empty for quite a while. But let's assume your heart spontaneously stops beating after reading this post (better read it till the end, that's all the life you have left...). What would be written on your tombstone? Apart from your own name, duh...

For a very long time, mine would have said: "nice boy, never bothered anyone"

And I hated that thought.

Don't get me wrong, being remembered as "nice" is - well - nice! That's not the part that bothered me. What did is the fact that I can recall all the times when I was about to "bother someone", but didn't. I held back because I didn't want to inconvenience others. Even if they probably would have forgotten about it a few minutes later and moved on with their lives. In theory, putting the well-being of everyone else first is a noble pursuit. You'll never fight. You'll never make enemies. But you'll also miss out on a lot. You'll be left behind. You'll end up with a tombstone that says "They never bothered anyone".

I realized I can't go on like this. Of course, I want to be nice, but if that's the most significant thing I've achieved, then while I might not have bothered anyone else, I sure as hell will have bothered the crap out of me for being a pushover and giving up on my dreams.

That's why it can be helpful to think about the way you might be remembered one day. It can uncover the unsettling truth of where your current path will lead you. But it's not too late, you can still change the direction. Unless of course you actually die once you're done reading this post.

Question 1: What would you want written on your tombstone?

Try to summarize your life's contribution in one or two sentences. What do you want to be remembered for?

Life is messy, you probably noticed already. There are ups and downs, and sometimes long stretches of "meh", where nothing of significance happened. Once you're dead, all of that will barely matter. Nobody will remember the detours you took along the way. Nobody will talk about the struggles you had to go through.

What will be your legacy? Will you have made an impact strong enough to be remembered a few generations later?

Question 2: What will your eulogy be like?

While a tombstone can only hold so much information, a eulogy can go into quite some detail. What will your loved ones say about you once you're gone? And more importantly, what would you want them to say?

Think about the roles you had, or want to have had. Parent? Friend? Colleague? Boss? Mentor? Elvis Impersonator?

Which character traits of yours do you want to be praised, or joked about? Which crazy stories to be told?

Also: Who shall be at your funeral? Do you think all of them know how much you care about them? (Hint: If you're not sure, reach out to them asap!)

Question 3: What will your Wikipedia article say about you?

Eulogies typically focus on highlights and positive character traits, whereas Wikipedia - or the internet in general - is not known for being quite so forgiving.

Read the Wikipedia entries of a few of your idols as inspiration, and then write your own.

Start with the most important headlines, and then fill in the details. What were your major contributions to society? What was the rough timeline of your professional and private life? Maybe there's even some controversy surrounding your accomplishments.

I chose to add a section on the conspiracy theories surrounding the events of my death in 2063. I was doing some research on a newly discovered ant species deep in the jungles of Borneo, when I was allegedly murdered by some wild beasts. Which is weird because at this point pretty much every animal that would have been capable of that was already extinct... Some say I faked my own death to start a new life after having gained huge amounts of fame for some random blog I started writing when I was 30, so much so that I wasn't able to leave the house without being swarmed by all of my 4 regular readers! I know, a little presumptuous, but one can dream...

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