I stumbled upon a wonderful post called: What Is Your Sentence? in Daniel Pinks blog. This is how people would talk about you. Or more precisely, how YOU want people to remember you or describe you when you are no more.
Know your sentence is a simple way to identify what your purpose is.
While it is a favourite theme of Daniel Pink, he acknowledges in his book Drive the idea originated with Clare Boothe Luce who was a businesswoman and one of the first women to serve in the US Congress.
Luce expressed her concern to President John F. Kennedy that he might be in danger of trying to do too much. And as a result, would lose focus.
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One sentence.
She told him early in his presidency that “a great man is one sentence.”
What she meant is that a leader with a clear and strong purpose could be summed up in a single line.
This concept is useful to everyone, not just presidents.
Your sentence might be, “He helped raise three children who became healthy, happy, adults.” Or, “She invented an app that made people’s lives much easier.”
For example, Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s life could be summed up as, “He saved Britain in it’s darkest hour.”
So what is your sentence?
Have you thought about your sentence? If you have, that is amazing! If you already have a sentence, please share it with us in the comments section.
And if you don’t, then it is time to do that.
One time, Ernest Hemingway was challenged to write a story using only six words. Many thought this impossible, even for the great author.
But not for Hemingway, the next day Hemingway produced this, “For sale. Baby shoes. Never worn.”
A mighty challenge.
It takes time and effort to distil down the essence of what you’re trying to achieve in a short and memorable sentence.
Reducing life to a handful of words is a mighty challenge.
Why is it so bloody difficult to sum up your life in one sentence? After all, articles have headlines, brands have tag lines, and even Twitter limits you to a few characters.
Does it feel too cheesy, morbid, or limiting? Is it reminiscent of a dating profile or a tombstone?
It might be a little bit of all of them. We consider ourselves multi-dimensional beings with professional and personal lives, not to mention family, friends, hobbies, and interests.
How is it possible to capture all that in just one sentence?
So what is your sentence?
Begin by focusing on what is most important. There is no right and wrong or good and bad.
But there is ONE thing that probably defines you more than anything else.
One Sentence for one defining moment.
Creating a six-word memoir is a useful exercise in self-analysis. More so if you apply the process to reflect upon your results and your goals.
Did I achieve what I set out to achieve?
Did my results stand the test of time?
Did I help others to succeed?
This simple yet complex exercise works well as a form of aspiration, that is, how do you want to be remembered?
This is powerful at any point in your career, but the sooner you do this, the more time you have to make changes so that you can become the person you are capable of becoming.
If your sentence is aspirational or a goal not yet achieved, then ask yourself, “How might I live up to my own sentence?”
You may be familiar with the story of Alfred Nobel.
A wealthy and successful man who was recognised for manufacturing explosives that killed people more effectively than anything previously.
An accident.
One day, there was an accident that blew his plant up. Everyone, including the press, thought he had been killed.
The next day, the newspaper headlines told of the dead man who made dynamite that had killed so many people.
Nobel was not at the plant that day, and he was shocked to see how he was remembered by the press.
He made an immediate decision to change his life. Thus, the Nobel Prize that we all know today was created. The one sentence of his life changed just like that.
Consider these fundamental questions to help you consider how you would sum up your life in six words or less.
How can I help?
What is my influence?
As humans, we are motivated to work for goals greater than ourselves. We achieve great things through the efforts of others.
They must create conditions for others to succeed.
Summing up your purpose in a few words challenges you to think about what work and life mean to you and how you influence the people around you.
So what is your sentence?
The reason for doing this now and delaying is that once you decide how you want to be remembered, the entire focus of your life changes.
You then concentrate on the essential things that will help you achieve what you have always dreamt of.
I know, this will put some people off, but believe me the sooner you do this, the better your life will be. I promise.
If you are struggling to come up with your sentence, don’t despair, enrol in the free webinar, 5 Ways To Perform At Your Best.
Dare to dream.
Follow your passion.
Be outstanding each and every day.
