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Begin with the End in Mind · The Daily Writer

• 0:13
  SPEAKER_00: Hey my friend, welcome to today's episode of the Daily Rider Podcast.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: In his classic book, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey famously wrote this: begin with the end in mind.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: So, just for a couple seconds, come with me on a journey to the end, the end of your life.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: I want you to imagine it's the day of your funeral.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: You've had a long, productive life.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: There is sadness, of course, but there's also a warm remembrance at a life well lived.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: The funeral service is over and people are telling stories about your life.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: These are people who knew you personally over the years.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: They can remember your mannerisms, the tone of your voice, your personality, and your quirks firsthand because they knew you and spent time with you.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: Fast forward 25 years after your death.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: Any kids who knew you personally are now adults.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: And any adults who knew you personally are, well, now they're 25 years older.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: Now, 25 years is a long time, and for those people who knew you personally, their memories are fading a bit.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: They still have pictures and perhaps videos, but those are probably archived on a hard drive somewhere or stored in the cloud or on some server.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: There are still people alive who knew you personally, but the generation who was born after you died only knows you by the stories that people tell about you, or things like pictures and videos that were left behind.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: Jump ahead to 50 years after your death.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: We're getting further and further away from those who knew you personally.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: The only ones still alive who knew you personally, they're the ones who knew you as kids or young adults, and now they're old if they're even still alive at all.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: Somewhere in a basement, somebody might have some pictures or other mementos stored that were connected with your life.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: It's now a hundred years after your death.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: Several generations have grown up since you've been gone.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: There's not a single person in life who knew you personally.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: Your kids and your grandkids are probably gone as well.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: The technology and media landscape will have changed so many times that ancient video and audio files and even social media archives from over a hundred years ago when you were still alive have either been erased or archived in some vast collection of human data.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: But even if your great great grandkids, generations after you can access all that, what will they actually find?
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: They'll find birth and death records, they'll find legal documents, perhaps, and maybe they'll find a bunch of random social media posts if those things are even accessible by that point.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: But how will they know you?
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: What will they know about your story, your hopes and dreams, your ideas, and what your life actually meant?
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: Well, there's only one way that those future generations will be able to know those things.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: They will be able to know those things because you wrote them down.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: So begin with the end in mind.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: Don't leave your legacy to chance.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: Write it down so it won't be forgotten.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: Here's today's question Your life will come to an end someday.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: What do you want to leave behind with your writing?
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks so much for listening to today's episode.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: For more, you can visit us at dailywriterlife.com.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks, and I'll see you tomorrow.