Close your eyes and imagine it is your 90th birthday party. You are all getting ready to sit down at the table. Who is there? Who has a seat at the table? And what will those people say about you and the life you have led?
I had the opportunity to reflect on this several decades ago while learning about Stephen Covey’s “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.” When I thought about who I wanted at my birthday party, I realized I didn’t want anyone currently in my life—other than my children. I know how horrible that sounds, but it’s the hard truth: I didn’t have any friends, my current husband was verbally and physically abusive, and my parents weren’t supportive of me. Instead of imagining what people in my life would say, I envisioned the people I wanted in my life and what they would say about me. I wrote about my children, grandchildren, friends, family, my husband, coworkers, church friends, neighbors, and more. In total, I wrote over four pages! Yes, you read that right—four pages of what I wanted people to say about me at my birthday party.
After rereading those four pages, I noticed that I had used the same words for each person, or at least a combination of those words. I truly wanted to help others become their best selves and inspire them to do great things. With that realization, I condensed my four-page mission statement to “Be the Inspiration” as a reminder to inspire others to be their best selves. That is how I got the name for this blog, it is my mission statement, which is my reminder.
Here is a link to Covey’s 80th Birthday Video, we watched this prior to sitting down to write our mission statement.