How would you like to look back at your life from your 80th birthday?

The meaning of life is to find your gift.
The purpose of life is to give it away.
– Pablo Picasso –

Have you ever asked yourself that question?

It’s definitely not an easy one to answer. It may take days, weeks or even months before you are able to answer that question…

Maybe you have a general idea but do not know the specifics.

Maybe you’d like to still be looking ahead. You’d still like to have plans for 10, 20 years. still wanting to experience and learn new things.

Or maybe you have absolutely no clue. You’ve never ever thought of this question before….

So why is it important to ask such a question? Why does it matter?

Well, once in a while, we should ask ourselves this question to find out what is our purpose in life or to make sure we are still working towards it…. We were all put on earth for a reason… Some people know their purpose early in life, some others will need years to discover… and some other never will.

Knowing what you would like to have achieved, what you would like to be proud of will help you throughout your life:

– It first will give you a vision, from which you can start and work backwards. You then will be able to set long, medium and short term goals, that you can in turn break down further in smaller milestones.

– You then will be able to find out what you should focus on, what skills or habits you should acquire and what you need to let go… If you want to be known for having run (or won) a marathon, maybe you first need to learn how to run on a regular basis, maybe you need to eat healthier or make some changes to your nutrition. And maybe you need to stop smoking once and for all…

– Finally, this will also help you focus on the right things, put the priority on things or people you care about and forget about all the other minor issues you have in your life.

Jeff Bezos once said: “When you think about the things that you will regret when you’re 80, they’re almost always the things that you did not do. They’re acts of omission. Very rarely are you going to regret something that you did that failed and didn’t work or whatever”

So, take a moment and ask yourself: How would you like to look back from your 80th birthday?