Dreaming Big Dreams: Working Out What is Important

There are a lot of books out there that talk about visualizing your way to success – and setting goals is part of the process.  I particularly like The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People – as the author, leadership expert Stephen Covey does not just go on about making loads of money (as some of those types of books do).  It is a bit ‘businessy’ in tone, but the big thing he focuses on working out what is important to you.  There’s not much use visualizing making a million dollars if that is not going to make you really happy.

He includes several exercises that you can try to work out what is really important to you:

1.  Imagine you have been told you have 3 months to live, but you are to continue with your job.  Visualize how you will spend the next 3 months.   This will give you a different perspective about your life.  Try living this new frame of mind for a week and see what you learn.

2.  Imagine you are sitting at a funeral service of a loved one.  You park the car and walk into the building seeing faces of friends and family as you enter.  You feel the sorrow of loss.  You walk to the front of the service and look inside the casket and come face to face with you – this is your funeral in five years in the future.  All these people have come to honor you.

You take a service program and see that four speakers are listed – one is from your immediate family, one is a close friend, the third is someone you work with, and the fourth is someone from your community or from an organization you are involved with.  Now think about what you would like each speaker to say about your life.  What kind of person would you want to be remembered as?  What kind of character do people say you have and what contributions do you want to be remembered for?

This is a great way for you to work out what your real priorities are in life – not what you think you should be working towards, but who you really want to become.

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