Whose voice are you listening to?

I had a conversation with someone last night who had clearly lost his passion for execution. In exploring where his passion had disappeared, the following questions came up that I am repeating as best as I can remember them. They offer interesting food for thought.

Whose voice do you listen to? Do you listen to the one that drives your passion and taps your strengths or do you listen to the one that tells you what to do, even if you are bored out of your mind?

Do you listen to the one that brings excitement to your day or do you listen to the one that brings frustration?

Do you listen to the one that empowers you to help others or to you listen to the one that produces no tangible benefits for anyone?

Do you listen to the voice that is gentle but persistent or do you listen to the voice that is loud and obnoxious, suggesting it has priority because "it is the loudest"?

Do you listen to the voice that supports your agenda, purpose and passion or do you listen to the voice that drives the needs of others at the sacrifice of your own?

Failing to listen to your voice can lead to inaction, uncertainty, frustration, fear, anxiety, stress, and dissatisfaction – all things that prevent you from finding true fulfillment in life (both yours and those whom you are meant to help). Always listening to other’s voices at the expense of your own needs satisfies someone else’s needs at the sacrifice of your own. I’m not saying don’t compromise because life is filled with opportunities for give and take. However, don’t squelch your own passions so that you can help others live theirs.

I am reminded of something that Rick Warren of “A Purpose Driven Life” fame wrote. He discusses the notion of SHAPE when it comes to influencing others, based on our:

Spiritual gifts
Heart
Abilities
Personality
Experiences

We have incredible talents but many times, we do not utilize them, because we are not listening to our voice, a voice that is the only thing in tune with our passions and strengths.

I am reminded of this quote from 1 Thessalonians chapter 1 verse 3:

Your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love and your endurance inspired by hope.

As Wayne Dyer (and others) have said many times:

Do not die with the music still in you.

As for my voice, I am accelerating a personal variation of Rick Warren’s PEACE plan, namely:

Plant centers of excellence wherever possible to encourage and incubate the potential of people

Equip leaders to be more effective at the softer side of things that are important to people

Assist the poor

Care for the sick

Educate the next generation to acquire the proper self-empowerment belief systems necessary to make a difference.

Follow your voice and make a difference that aligns with your passions, your talents and your strengths.

Take care and create a great weekend!

Harry

Compassion - Taking note of those around us

Earlier today, I received a touch-base from a friend of mine. It was nothing elaborate, nothing overly complex - just a "hey, how's it going / how are you doing / anything I can do to help you" kind of thing. However, his timing was perfect as I have had my brain full this week taking care of delicate but important things. His brief email brought a smile to my face and I replied that I was well but more importantly, that his thinking of me made me feel good - it reminded me of how lucky I am.

Every one of us likes to feel like we mean something to someone else. We strive for reasons to contribute to others lives as we make our way through our own busy lives. Sometimes it is important, though, for us to slow down once in a while and remember that while we are grateful for others appreciating us, there are people around us who maybe need us to reach out to them.

It doesn't have to be a long message nor does it have to be elaborate in execution. A few months back, a great friend of mine (a Services Exec in MCS) was going through a delicate, complex, significant business negotiation with a client and I knew he was having a stress filled week. At one point, I was thinking of him and saw him online and flashed a message that simply read "Hope all is well - just letting you know I'm here if you need anything - no reply necessary". He thanked me later and indicated that he really appreciated the ping of support and that it made a difference in how he executed his day. Again, nothing fancy - as they say, it's the thought that counts.

Sometimes it means taking care of strangers just because the opportunity is there. I've mentioned in the past about helping the overwhelmed lady behind the Continental counter at Newark Airport this winter past. I did that one for fun (if you don’t know the story, little ‘r’ me and I will send it to you). However, sometimes the stakes are higher and you must go with your instinct to make a difference, even if you don’t understand why at the moment.

I have shared the following story with some of you before but it is worth repeating to make a point. A few years back, I was embroiled in a large international fraud trial in New York Supreme Court. As key witness for the prosecution, I alternated between being perceived as everyone's best friend and everyone's worst enemy. I had death threats against myself and my family and I had been offered incredible bribes. One Wednesday I was driving along the highway when I received a call on my cell phone from one of the parties in the case. I wanted to concentrate on the call, so I pulled over on a local beach to take it.

For the hour that I was on the call, I could not believe how Life was so complicated and how I had allowed myself to get caught up in such a mess. During that hour, I kept noticing a lady in a red car to my left who was crying profusely, with her head in her hands.

When I was finished with the call and wondering what could make my day darker, I started my truck and drove away. When I drove about 150 feet or so, I had a feeling that something wasn't right, so I turned around and went back to the red car.

I walked over to the driver's side and tapped on the glass. Now you can imagine someone 6 foot three with dark glasses on, approaching a woman in a remote area - an intimidating situation for the woman to be sure. The lady opened the window about an inch and I asked her if she was ok. She indicated that she was fine. I told her that from where I sat, she did not appear to be fine at all. I also told her that however dark Life appeared to her at that moment, it was in fact filled with love for her and that if she could see that, she would find the way out of the darkness that she saw. She thanked me and I walked away. As I got back to my truck, I thought "Nope, that's still not good enough". I turned around, went back and gave her my name and phone number on a piece of paper. I told her to call anytime and that there were lots of people out there who could help her find the light that she needed. She thanked me again and I left.

A week later, almost to the hour, I was driving past the same spot and realized that my cell phone wasn't on. I turned it on and it promptly told me that I had a message. I pulled over and listened to the message, a message so profound that I couldn't speak so I silently passed the phone to my wife Rowan so she could listen to it.

It was a message left at 1:20 that morning. It was clear by the message from the mysterious lady I had met a week earlier, that while I had been wondering why my Life was so complicated, Lynn, as the caller identified herself, was contemplating why Life was worth living. She had been waiting for me to leave so that she could find the end that she thought would solve her problems. It appeared that my spontaneous act had interrupted plans that would have had a much darker result had I not spoken to her.

She indicated in her message that my act of compassion and kindness would stay with her forever and I suspect that she will pass this compassion and kindness on to others. When my day is difficult I replay her message to help put my day back into perspective.

My point with this story is that there are people all around us who need something from us, an unrequested but necessary action to make a difference in their lives (and ours too, we just don’t know it at the time). Maybe it's a kind word to compensate for a rough day. Maybe it's stepping up to take the kids for a bit to give a spouse a break. Maybe it's that random act of kindness to a complete stranger that has an impact down the road in ways that you may never know.

Tim Sanders tells a similar story that happened to him as a result of a presentation that he made. Here is his story on YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFEbWXwhQmU&mode=related&search

The bottom line is this. While we need to feel loved, respected, appreciated and all of that good stuff (and may get agitated, angry or sad if we don’t' receive it in the quantity and quality we desire), remember that many people around us are feeling the same. Perhaps in order to receive more, we need to give more. The old adage "the more you give, the more you will receive" holds true in this case.

Norman Macewan once wrote "Happiness is not so much in having as sharing. We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give." This quote, when lived at its most fundamental level, is profound.

I wish you all a wonderful July 4th holiday. The spirit of independence which we celebrate also empowers us to make a difference to others. Let's make sure we exercise that right as many times as we can. The world is in need of it.

Take care and create a great day.

Harry

Thoughts on living a life of passion

Good day, everyone.

As you know, I am passionate about living a life of gratitude and sharing with others. Many of us like to believe that we are passionate about things but many times we are passionate about that which we avoid as opposed to being passionate about what we want to accomplish - passionate about moving away from that which we fear rather than passionate about running towards that which we desire. Ask someone about what they passionately want and many can’t tell you – but take something away and you will discover how passionate they are about losing something.

The reasons we tend to hold back our passion are many but most of the reasons are tied up in fear and doubt (even procrastination is an incarnation of fear) ….. things like:

1. My family will think I am crazy
2. My friends will think I am crazy
3. Complete strangers will think I am crazy
4. My company will assume I am a risk to their business model and I will be fired
5. Being passionate will cause me to take risks, risks that will result in failure
6. The failure from point 5 will cause me and those I support to lose everything
7. Someone else can do it better than I can or is already doing it and I just don’t know it yet
8. I can’t afford to start being passionate about something
9. I’m too old to start getting passionate about something
10. I can start getting passionate tomorrow – there’s lots of time left in my life
11. I’ll get passionate when I get some spare time (but I’m too busy to clean up my calendar to create more time)
12. I’m not really passionate about anything
13. No one is interested in what I have to say or do
14. I’m not smart enough
15. I am not handsome / attractive enough
16. I don’t have enough education
17. If I want something, others will think I am greedy
18. If I share something, others will think I am showing off or flaunting my abundance
19. There is no one out there to help me execute on my passion
20. The area I live in is not conducive to success

The list goes on and on. Many of you will have other beliefs that are either variants of this list or additions to the list. Scientists now believe that the origins of such beliefs are rooted as much in our genetic makeup as they are in our background and upbringing.

The unfortunate part of such a belief system is that we never reach the potential that not only are we capable of but that we have a responsibility to explore as the miracle that we are: to cultivate opportunity, harvest them and share them with others.

I have spoken throughout Canada and the US regarding the notion of living a life of gratitude (one of my speeches is attached for any of you who have not read it – many have read it and I apologize to you for the redundant mailing). I believe that living a life of gratitude stokes my passion for constantly trying to raise my awareness and capabilities to new levels. This fuels my passion for wanting to help others and opening the door to allow others to help me. It is my humble belief that such a lifestyle leads to abundance in a number of areas in my life.

From speaking with you individually, I know that each of you believes in the same fundamental belief system, but we all execute on different levels of success based on background, upbringing, genetics, our perception of how empowered we are to execute (the perception being negated by the previously discussed list) and the level of passion we feel regarding the execution.

The challenge is that if we wait for the right moment to execute our passion, that perfect moment when our desire aligns with everything else that we believe must be set up perfectly, for many the opportunity to execute never happens. Our fear of failure prevents us from acting unless we are absolutely assured of success; assurances that don’t exist anyway despite our desires or perceptions.

So I would like to offer a challenge to each of you this week. Assuming you had unlimited time, energy and money, you would be capable of living out your wildest dreams, of fulfilling your passion to achieve anything you wanted in your life. With such assumptions in mind, you would obviously take action, not fearing failure, not fearing what others would say to you, etc. If you follow the writings of Covey, Dyer, Waitley, Wattle, Hill and others, one of their common themes is that you will “see it when you believe it” not “believe it when you see it” – the notion that everything you desire is created twice – first in the mind and then in reality.

If you know what your passion is, take at least one action towards that passion, especially if the passion or action is outside of your comfort zone. Don’t choose something that is a little out of your comfort zone – go wildly outside your comfort zone with the belief that you are headed towards success. As long as it benefits someone (or yourself), the opinion of other people should not deter you from taking a step closer to your passion. Many people will try to slow you down because they don’t want to be left behind – they have the same fear of execution but instead of shedding the fear, will strive to hold you back to “keep them company”. The week after, take a larger step and each week after that, challenge yourself to outperform your previous steps. Pretty soon, you will be accomplishing things you never thought you were capable of.

If you believe you don’t have a passion yet, take some time this week to reflect on this. Everyone has a passion for something – for many it is dormant inside or fear of failure keeps it from manifesting. I’m sure that you will find your passion if you reflect on where you have come from and where you are going and perform such reflection without fear. If after that, you still don’t feel passionate about anything, drop me an email. J I can share some tools and techniques to help you discover your passion.

One final challenge – as in business, where your business is either growing or dying (there is no middle ground), your personal growth must always be taking place or at some point, you will be left behind. Make it a goal to read at least one book per week that improves you personally or professionally. For those who are short on time, there is always time to take care of yourself, putting yourself in a position to help others. When the oxygen mask deploys in an aircraft, airlines encourage you to put your mask on first and then help the child next to you. By doing so, you save both people; yourself and the child. If you struggle to help the child first without putting on your own mask first and you take too long to help them, you both fail. So when people tell me they didn’t help themselves this week so that they can help others, I remind them of this story. Sooner or later, they will run out of momentum, knowledge and skills and may not be able to help anyone.

Take a step towards manufacturing your own destiny. As I was quoted by Bob Proctor recently, “Everyone's life is under someone's control - it might as well be under your own so that you can direct your destiny." Harvest from the unlimited abundance all around us and then help others to do the same. It is our responsibility and obligation – and it feels great.

Take care and be well.

Create a great week!

Harry

Follow your river

A powerful article from an author whose writings changed my life many years ago. Have a great week!

Follow Your River

Are you immersed in your "river of interest" or simply watching your life from the shore ... afraid to get your feet wet?

by Earl Nightingale

There are two distinct kinds of successful people. There are what I call the river people and the goal people. Let's take a good look at the river people. River people are those fortunate people who find themselves born to perform a special task. Mozart and da Vinci were river people. There are thousands of river people living today. They're the people who know from childhood what they want to do with their lives.

River people seem born to spend their lives in pursuit of their interest. And they throw themselves into their rivers 100 percent, busying themselves with whatever it happens to be. They don't tend to think about the idea of success or the making of money; they simply spend their lives doing the best they can in their river of interest. And they're often responsible for some of the largest achievements and institutions on earth.

We all know the stories of Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Edison. The businesses that have grown from their inventions encircle the globe and are among the largest on the planet. Einstein was such a person, of course, but there are thousands of them that we never hear of. They are people who would be perfectly content in their fields of interest with only a modest maintenance diet and a roof over their heads. Their work is everything. But because they usually render a very valuable service in the performance of their work, be it in the arts or sports or commerce, they're usually well rewarded for their efforts, though they may struggle for years before recognition and success come to them.

Dr. Abraham Maslow talked about such people. He said, "One could say a good match is like the perfect love affair or friendship in which it seems that people belong to each other and were meant for each other. In the best instances, the person and his job fit together and belong together perfectly, like a key in a lock, or perhaps resonate together like a sung note which sits in a sympathetic resonance, a particular string on a piano keyboard." And Maslow said, "Simply as a matter of the strategy and tactics of living well and fully, and of choosing one's life instead of having it determined for us, this is a help."

It's so easy to forget ultimates in the rush and hurry of daily life, especially for young people. So often, we're merely responders, so to speak, simply reacting to stimuli, to rewards and punishments, to emergencies, to pains and fears, to demands of other people, to superficialities. It takes a specific, conscious effort, at least at first, to turn one's attention to intrinsic things and values. Perhaps seeking actual physical aloneness. Perhaps exposing one's self to great music, to good people, to natural beauty, and so forth. Only after practice do these strategies become easy and automatic so that one can be living totally immersed in his or her river.

I believe that each of us, because of the way our genetic heritage is stacked, has an area of great interest. And it's that area that we should explore with the patience and assiduity of a paleontologist on an important dig where it's a region of great potential. Somewhere within it, we can find that avenue of interest that so perfectly matches our natural abilities, we'll be able to make our greatest contribution and spend our lives in work we love.

If we can find our river of interest, we need only throw ourselves into it, fully committed, and there spend our days learning and growing and finding new emerging fields of interest within its boundaries.

EARL NIGHTINGALE was the author of Lead the Field. To read more articles by Earl Nightingale, "The Cure for Procrastination" (Sep/Oct 2005) and "The Strangest Secret" (Nov/Dec 2004), visit http://www.nightingale.com/a~AuthorID~12.asp today

A great way to end the day

From Leo Buscaglia’s Born for Love

Asking yourself questions and answering them honestly is a good path to self-knowledge. In keeping with this idea, I'd like to propose a few end-of-the-day questions for each of us...

Is anyone a little happier because I came along today?

Did I leave any concrete evidence of my kindness, any sign of my love?

Did I try to think of someone I know in a more positive light?

Did I help someone to feel joy, to laugh, or at least, to smile?

Have I attempted to remove a little of the rust that is corroding my relationships?

Have I gone through the day without fretting over what I don't have and celebrating the things I do have?

Have I forgiven others for being less than perfect?

Have I forgiven myself?

Have I learned something new about life, living or love?

Musings on resources versus resourcefulness

Good day, everyone.

I had an interesting interaction today with an associate and it brought some interesting thoughts to mind that I wanted to share and to invite some dialog on.

In the goal setting / life architecture program that I incubated for inner city youth, one of the things the kids and I discuss is the notion of overcoming the limited belief that people cannot accomplish things because they have limited access to time, energy and money. This fear prevents many people from striving to reach their dreams, because they believe they don’t have enough of “what it takes” in order to begin on their path and to reach their goals. For that reason, many people wait until the right moment to execute, only to discover years later that they waited too long because the perfect alignment of all resources never seemed to arrive.

In helping a good friend of mine (a fellow ‘Softee) sort through some messy client stuff today, someone else stepped up and said “One of the reasons this failed is that we don’t have enough time or people to do it right” to which I replied “Lack of success doesn’t stem from lack of resources – it stems from lack of resourcefulness”. I seem to recall that Norman Vincent Peale or someone similar coined this phrase many years ago.

However, it got me to thinking. With the pressures on our personal and professional lives, it is sometimes easy to fall back on an inability to execute because we believe we have limited time, energy and money and because of this belief, our intention to execute is stifled by fear that we are not equipped to seek out our ultimate goals or to execute things successfully. However, if we start to believe this on a consistent basis, perhaps we open ourselves up to not only lack of progress toward life goals, but perhaps to the potential for failure, with the thought that we can leverage the excuse of lack of this, that or the other thing to back us up when we fail.

When one considers unlimited time, energy and money to accomplish that which we wish to accomplish, this doesn’t necessarily mean that we have it within our personal portfolio. It is through recognizing that out network contributes to our success just as we contribute to the success of our network that we have access to unlimited resources. So when we need time, energy or money to execute successfully, we need to be open to leveraging the help of those whom we collaborate with just as we can be counted on when someone needs our help.

Only by doing this can we reach new heights of success and to help others reach their own new heights of success. People need to recognize more often that they can’t do it all themselves and no one expects them to. Leveraging the talents of the wonderful people all around us will take us to new heights and create opportunities that we never envisioned that we would have the opportunity to partake in.

I am very much interested in how readers of this blog help others leverage appropriate skills to make them more successful personally and professionally and how you helped someone overcome barriers (or how someone helped you overcome barriers) towards success.

Comments are welcome and invited.

I wish you all a wonderful day. Create opportunities for success where you can.

Best wishes,

Harry

Just for today - by Dale Carnegie

Good day, folks.

I was poking around some old notes and came across a goody from Dale Carnegie that, while written 50 years ago, is as important today as ever. As I have the blessing to speak to many people every day, it seems to me, in my humble opinion, that many people’s lives are filled with great intentions to do the right thing for themselves and others but for some reason, something “pops up” every day that required attention first. For many of those people, they live in a world of frustration, waiting to do that which they know they want to do but feel that they can’t for one reason or another (many of the reasons aren’t real). I think of some quotes from Michel de Montaigne:

“My life has been full of terrible misfortunes, most of which never happened”

“Nothing is so firmly believed as what we least know”

“He who fear will suffer, he already suffers from his fear”.

Anyway, on to the nugget from Dale Carnegie. Be well and create a great day, everyone! [Author note: An anonymous reader pointed out on December 29, 2014 that in fact the author of this nugget is Sybil F. Partridge.  I am grateful to the reader for pointing this out.]

Just for Today:

1. Just for today I will be happy. This assumes that what Abraham Lincoln said is true, that “most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.” Happiness is from within; it is not a matter of externals.

2. Just for today, I will try to adjust myself to what is and not try to adjust everything to my own desires. I will take my family, my business and my luck as they come and fit myself to them.

3. Just for today I will take care of my body, I will exercise it, care for it, nourish it, not abuse it nor neglect it, so that it will be a perfect machine for my bidding.

4. Just for today, I will try to strengthen my mind. I will learn something useful. I will not be a mental loafer. I will read something that requires effort, thought and concentration.

5. Just for today, I will exercise my soul in three ways. I will do somebody a good turn and not get found out. I will do at least two things I don’t want to do, as William James suggests, just for exercise.

6. Just for today, I will be agreeable. I will look as well as I can, dress as becomingly as possible, talk low, act courteously, be liberal with praise, criticize not at all, nor find fault with anything and not try to regulate nor improve anyone.

7. Just for today, I will try to live through this day only, not to tackle my whole life problem at once. I can do things for twelve hours that would appall me if I had to keep them up for a lifetime.

8. Just for today I will have a program. I will write down what I expect to do every hour. I may not follow it exactly, but I will have it. It will eliminate two pests; hurry and indecision.

9. Just for today, I will have a quiet half-hour all by myself and relax. In this half-hour sometimes I will think of God so as to get a little more perspective into my life.

10. Just for today, I will be unafraid, especially I will not be afraid to be happy, to enjoy what is beautiful, to love and to believe that those I love, love me.

Musings on a sore toe

Good day, everyone.

I’ve had, since Sunday, what appeared to be a broken toe. No flashy injury – just something that seemed to progress in level of pain each day that I, as the typical man in charge of my own destiny (translation: too stubborn to go into a hospital unless carried in) firmly resolved to work through. I mentioned to my wife the other day that the lowly toe is not even something you pay attention to or are necessarily aware of the importance of until you have a situation where you can’t walk on it – then you notice that it’s there and it’s important.

After I made that observation, it got me to thinking about a lot of other things that are important but go unnoticed in our daily high-speed lives. Things like:

1. the amazing amount of knowledge and learning that surround us in unlimited quantity, but for which we never quite seem to find the time to absorb
2. opportunities to help those around us in need every day
3. reasons to be grateful for everything we have, no matter how small
4. friends who seem to call at the right time to see how we are doing and how much we should really appreciate them
5. children who can erase a challenging day when you return home with a simple “Daddy’s (or Mommy’s) home”, followed by a big hug
6. friends who offer timely advice just when you need to hear it, such as when one member of this list sent me a powerful email the other day contrasting “living to work” versus “working to live”
7. spiritual guidance, for those who seek spiritual influence in their lives
8. the notion of how really miraculous every breath is that each of us takes or the miracle of each beat of our heart (our heart, on average beats almost 104,000 beats a day – that’s 37,960,000 beats a year and 2,733,120,000 beats in an average 72 year life span – try buying a mechanical device that can deliver that!)
9. the miracle of every interaction between two people, whether face to face or using technology of some kind – and whether you are agreeing or fight vehemently
10. the amazing organized chaos that is our universe, which, when you look at the seeming chaos that it appears to be, is actually a VERY finely tuned machine. Take a moment when you have a chance, plop yourself down in the middle of a place filled with activity and observe the organization that underlies the seeming randomness
11. the notion that if our work were simple, we should be paid much less, so difficult work is something to be grateful for
12. the wonder of our respective lineages and cultures and the wonderful insight that this brings to our perception of ourselves and our world.

There is a great book written by Gerald Weinberg titled “Are Your Lights On”. The title originates from a story in Europe where tunnel engineers wanted to erect a sign for drivers as they exited a tunnel, reminding them that their headlights were still on. They tried various combinations of signs that in essence read “If your lights are on and you didn’t want them on, turn them off – if your lights are on and you wanted them on, leave them on” etc. The challenge was that people were driving off the road reading the complex sign. In the end, the engineers realized that to help people solve problems, you don’t tell them what to do – you just remind them of the problem and they can solve it for themselves, hence the sign reading “Are your lights on?”.

So my thought for you today is “Are your lights on?”. Are you taking the time to understand what is really important?

As for my lowly toe, I just checked out of the hospital. It turns out that my kidneys were malfunctioning and the symptoms were manifesting in my feet of all places. So my lowly toe brought a potentially very serious condition to light that is treatable because it was found early.

Little things and things of seeming unimportance in your life are very important – please be alert to all of them.

Take care and be well.

Harry

Leaving a legacy

Good day, everyone.

I wanted to share an interesting note from Michael Josephson, someone who has dedicated much of his life to building character in others (http://www.charactercounts.org/). The bold emphasis was mine, highlighting an interesting point.

Take care and create a great weekend!

Harry

Two Kinds of Legacy

When you die, your possessions will be distributed according to a will in which you allocated property to specific people. Objects left in a will are called a legacy.

But legacy also has a much deeper meaning.

In Jewish tradition, people write "ethical wills" in which they pass on to the next generation, especially their children, the gift of wisdom and good wishes. This bestowal is far more profound and permanent than bequests of property.

An ethical will is often a personal letter to the most important people in our lives. It conveys our values, convictions, and hopes. It is also an autobiography -- not of events and dates, but of the insights and intuitions that define who we are and tell the world what we stand for and what we think is important.

These documents provide a priceless and prized source of loving advice and can become treasured family heirlooms. Because they are about ethics, they also can become a moral compass that helps loved ones navigate their way to worthy and happy lives.

Yet no matter how highly cherished these letters can be for those who receive them, the process of writing them can change your perspective and cause you to readjust your own priorities.

What would you put in your ethical will? When you can, begin writing down everything you might want to pass on to the people you love. But know this: Once you start, it will be hard to stop as you’ll experience a surge of thoughts that will engulf you with all the subconscious beliefs that make you who you are and what you will be.

According to Socrates, the touchstone of wisdom is to first know thyself. Try it, and you’ll see why.