Life Goal Exercise

Welcome to your funeral

Life Goal Exercise

• If you don’t have a goal, how will you know where you are going?

• The aim of this exercise is to write a life purpose statement

• A generic sentence about who you are and where you are headed.

Life Goal Exercise

• Where are you headed in life?

• What is your “end game” strategy?

• Are you drifting along, hoping for the best…

• Many people reach midlife and ask “what have I done with my life?”

Life Goal Exercise

• Have you ever counseled someone on their death bed?

• They never talk about not having enough stuff, or about not doing enough

• The things that really matter come out then

Life Goal Exercise

• Have you ever been to a wedding and cringed as the father of the bride spoke?

• Or listened to a stumbling father describe his son at a 21st?

Life Goal Exercise

• Let your mind wander forward, a long way forward to the end of your life.

• You are at your own funeral.

• There is a coffin, with your body in it. A large group of people have assembled to pay their last respects to you.

• What would you like said?

Life Goal Exercise

• From the crowd of people, your family have selected just four to present their perspective on your life

• These four people, who have known you move to the front.

• They begin to address the audience, one at the time:

Life Goal Exercise

- A family member, or loved one talks of their time in the same family as you

- A person who has known you in a church, club, association or sporting team

Life Goal Exercise

- A friend or long time associate shares what it was like running with you then

- Someone who has worked with you regularly talks of what it was like.

Each one shares a unique perspective or insight into who you were

Life Goal Exercise

- What kind of eulogy do they bring?

- What kind of eulogy would you want them to bring?

- Write it down for each person on your exercise sheet

Life Goal Exercise

You have in front of you the makings of a life vision

A description of the kind of things you most value as a human being.

From this we are going to develop a life purpose statement

Life Goal Exercise

The attributes in these statements will form the basis of your life goals

They are the aspects of humanness that are most valuable to you.

Rank those attributes from most to least important.

Life Goal Exercise

Now try to write one cohesive statement of life purpose. Here are three examples:

“I live to help other people to achieve their maximum potential”

Source: Stephen Covey, “Seven Habits of Highly Effective People”

Life Goal Exercise

“To be a person who spends their life, time and energy discovering, uncovering and encouraging the best in others. To build them up selflessly, challenging, encouraging and visioning”

Life Goal Exercise

“I see, hear, feel and know my purpose in life is to be an inspiration and an example for myself and others, that we can come to wholeness and reach our calling in life.”