This season includes many traditions: celebration, giving, reflection, and goal setting. Postings have titles like “10 lessons from last year” or “What the future is likely to bring”.
Years ago, a wise coach caused a growth spurt within me by asserting that intelligence is shown more by wise questions than by brilliant answers. In this post, I offer you wise questions and not a single answer.
You won’t find conclusions or prognostications in this post. Instead, I invite you to reflect and reimagine. What follows is not a to-do list or even a collection of recommendations. It’s a sample case of questions for your consideration.
Two Lists of Questions for Review
In this blog, I emphasize legacy, not merely next week’s tactics. Wise coaches gave me the following questions to me and I’m passing them on to you.
One set is experiential, the other is aspirational. Skim them. Select a few to ponder deeply so you can plumb last year’s depths and bring forth treasures, both old and new.
* What evidence is there that the people around you know who and what you honor and what you oppose as evil?
* What were your three best successes?
* What were your three biggest blunders?
* What were your three greatest joys?
* What were your three deepest regrets?
* What were your three biggest surprises?
* If you die within a decade, who would you want to have become or have done more of? What would you like to do less of?
* What trait do you most want your loved ones to imitate? How can you increase the likelihood of them adopting that trait?
* What have you started that is terrific? What is not worth continuing?
* What falsehoods did you previously believe that you now recognize as damaging to you or the people you care about? How will you substitute truth for the old lie?
* What habit or trait harms you or those you love?
* What do you admire that you want to become or do more of?
* If some people drain you and you’ve not made the deliberate choice to lovingly serve them, might this be the year to replace them with people who can help you be a better blessing to others?
Rick Warren’s Purpose Driven Life posed five life/legacy questions:
* What will be the center of my life?
* What will be the character of my life
* What will be the contribution of my life?
* What will be the communication of my life?
* Who will be my community for life?
OK, those are two ample lists. Now what?
Identify What’s Most Important
Pick no more than four topics from either list and ponder them for a while.
Take several days to do this. As you go about your daily life, capture your thoughts and insights. You can use a notebook, random sheets of paper, or index cards. You can record your thoughts on your phone or a small digital recorder. Consolidate them and review them.
Ponder What’s Most Important
As you work with your insights, the most important ones will emerge. To increase your likelihood of improvement you might review the questions below or work with a life coach who will help sharpen your awareness.
* What makes this topic important to you and those you care about?
* What obstacles might slow your progress?
* How can you turn those obstacles into opportunities?
* What first, maybe small, step could you start the day you review your list?
* Who might help you become the person you were created to be?
* How could you increase the likelihood of deeper commitment to yourself, your future, and the people you love?
Decide What to Do
Insights are wonderful, but they’re only pleasant thoughts unless you act on them. Write some tangible action steps: specific, measurable, realistic, with time markers. Your objective is improvement, not perfection. Pick one action step to take right away.
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I ask for feedback at the end of every post. Thankfully, people respond. Your response to this blog will mean more to me than you might appreciate.
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Terry Moore, CCIM, is the author of Building Legacy Wealth: How to Build Wealth and Live a Life Worth Imitating. Read his “Welcome to My Blog.”