HAVE YOU WRITTEN YOUR OBITUARY?

Recently, I wrote my obituary. Yes, my own obituary! I am sure that may not make sense to you. But that is what I did. Why? You may want to ask. Why not? If I may ask. Before I tell you why, let me tell you what I wrote about in the obituary. I wrote about my service to God, my family life, my purpose and achievements. Yes, those were the things I wrote about in the obituary. Let me also state from the outset that the aim of this post is to encourage you to write your obituary TODAY.

During my final days as an undergraduate, I was opportune to listen to a motivational speaker who came to speak to us. This man asked us all to write our obituaries and you can guess what the reaction of the audience was. But after listening to him I realised that writing your obituary is one of the best decisions you can take in life. I left the venue of the programme with the resolution to write my obituary immediately. I can’t remember if I eventually wrote it or not but recently I remembered about it and decided to write my obituary.

Your obituary is what is written about you when you die. So writing your obituary when you are alive gives you the chance to influence - I think dictate is a better word - what will be written about you when you die. This does not mean you should go about showing your obituary to everybody (that is why I didn’t publish mine). Your self-written obituary is for you eyes only and anybody you want to show it to.

Writing your obituary is a way of giving direction to your life. Since your obituary is a summary of how you lived your life, writing it ahead will guide your decisions and actions. How? Since an obituary contains the activities and achievements of an individual during his lifetime, the obituary you write should contain those things you hope to achieve in life. Write it in a way that presupposes you have achieved these things. This will give direction to your life, since you already know the goal you are working towards. Writing your obituary is a way of writing down your dream in life.

Writing your obituary well ahead will give you clarity and focus. Clarity of purpose and focus to follow through with it without distractions. So, write your obituary and place it where you can see it constantly. This will help remind you about your dream(s) and give you the spur you need to achieve your purpose.

SO ARE YOU READY TO WRITE YOUR OBITUARY NOW?