- WISER Newsletter
- Posts
- What Do You Want Written on Your Gravestone?
What Do You Want Written on Your Gravestone?
This Exercise Will Help You to Have No Regrets
Wisdom Made Easy
February 03, 2024
Today’s newsletter could change your life.
I know that is a bold statement, but stick with me.
You won’t regret it.
But before I dive into the wise principle of today’s newsletter, I want to thank you for subscribing to the WISER Newsletter.
With that in mind, I want to give back!
I’m producing a FREE resource, but I want to hear from you!
Would you like a journaling exercise?
Maybe a guided wellbeing practice?
Perhaps a little lesson on how you can visualize your own ideas?
Fill in this quick 2 minute survey to let me know what FREE resource you’d like me to develop:
Now let’s get WISER together!
Earlier this week, I shared an activity as part of January’s Random Acts of Wiseness.
It was a journal prompt to reflect on 3 words that your friends would use to describe you.
This exercise had 2 core benefits:
1️⃣ Self-Awareness 🧐
“Self-awareness is the key to self-mastery.”
- Gretchen Ruben
Knowing yourself is a super-power, and this is your opportunity to gain a better understanding of who you are, according to your friends.
Do you actually know what characteristics that you embody in a relationship?
This activity is a great one to identify whether you are self-aware, especially when you follow it up by asking your friends how they would describe you.
2️⃣ Course Correction 🧭
This exercise helps you to identify if you need to change direction.
Maybe you write down 3 words that don’t align with what you would hope that your friends would say about you.
I would like to think that my friends might describe me as creative or generous, but perhaps my forgetfulness is what they think of first.
This exercise helps you to identify areas for improvement, especially if you then partner it with asking your friends to share the 3 words that they would use to describe you.
🪦 The Gravestone Technique
Sure, this one is a little bit morbid, but believe me when I say that this activity is worth doing.
The general idea is to think about the sort of thing that you would like written on your gravestone.
Similar to that of the exercise I shared in the Random Acts of Wiseness, this exercise encourages you to consider what characteristics that you want to embody, but in your whole life, not just your friendships.
This is your opportunity to make sure that you have no regrets at the end of your life.
Consider what you’d want on your gravestone, then work back from there.
Your actions will dictate what is said about you.
For this week’s newsletter, I will leave you with these 3 journal prompts to see if you are self-aware and whether you’re heading in the direction that you want:
✍️ Journal Prompts
• What 3 words do you think your friends would use to describe you?
• Do you know what you’d want written on your gravestone?
• What do you think would be written on your gravestone if you didn’t change how you are living life?
Consider journaling through the above questions yourself.
👍 Recommendations
Here are couple of things that I think will complement this week’s newsletter and will help you to get wiser:
1️⃣ The first recommendation is to check out this video from Ali Abdaal called How to Figure Out What You Want To Do With Your Life.
I first heard of The Gravestone Technique in this video, and it can help you get clear on what life you want to build.
He also speaks about another couple of exercises including The Odyssey Plan and The Ideal Ordinary Week in this video - both of which are exceptional for narrowing down on what you want from life.
To learn about those, watch this:
2️⃣ This isn’t the first time, and it won’t be the last time that I recommend this book: Bronnie Ware’s The Top 5 Regrets of the Dying.
It feels relevant to mention this book as it’s complimentary to The Gravestone Technique.
Consider drawing upon the insights of those at the end of their lives to ensure that you don’t have the same regrets of them here:
* Please note that these may be affiliate links. Purchasing through these links could support Wisdom Made Easy encourage more people to get wiser.
✍️ What I’m Working On
It’s February and we’re already a few days into the Random Acts of Wiseness.
If you’d like to join me in doing small daily activities to become wiser, download the activities here:
In case you missed it, last week I had a wonderful opportunity to meet some of you at an event hosted by Ali Abdaal and Sahil Bloom in London.
The event was exceptional, and I’ll be sure to share more of the learnings from it in a future WISER newsletter, but I wanted to share a few bits with you!
The first is this PDF that I made summarising the 10 lesson that changed their lives here:
And I also got the opportunity to meet Simon Alexander Ong - bestselling author of Energize.
This is a book that I have been fortunate enough to listen to, already, but it was neat to be gifted a physical copy of his book too!
If you wanted to pick up a copy of his book, you can do so here:
⭐️ Rate This Week's Newsletter!Your feedback helps to make this the wisest newsletter possible. |
Do you enjoy this newsletter? If so, please share it with someone! Forward this to a friend, or share it on social media!
If you’ve just received this as a forwarded email, subscribe here:
😊 Thank You!
Thanks for checking out this issue of the WISER Newsletter. If you have any feedback, I would love to hear it!
Simply reply to this email, and I will get back to you.
Alternatively, just DM me on social media. You can find me here:
Catch you in the next issue!
Thanks,
Michael
If you are interested in starting your own newsletter, consider using beehiiv to make it happen.
Using my link helps me to continue to deliver the WISER Newsletter for free.
Start your newsletter for free here:
