Your Most Important Work is Always Ahead of You

Finished reading Live Life in Crescendo by Stephen R Covey and Cynthia Covey. I have read all the books of Stephen Covey and have even attended his workshop on "Seven Habits of Highly Effective People." In all his books, I have deeply appreciated Covey’s unique style of sharing timeless wisdoms (principles) and giving its readers practical approaches for adopting these principles in day to day life. This book explores how you can lead the different stages of your life and suggests few timeless principles, which may help you lead a fulfilling life.?Here are my key takeaways:

Crescendo means the loudest point reached in a gradually increasing sound. The opposite of crescendo is diminuendo i.e. the decrease in the loudness of music.

Applying the same terms to life, living in diminuendo would mean you’d stop growing and learning, contributing and producing. But you can choose to live your life in crescendo, by adopting a new mindset: the best is yet to come, and I’m looking forward to what the future holds.

Most people witness midlife crisis during their mid-life years, where you may feel that your dreams and aspirations are beyond your grasp, and you have given up trying to achieve them. One of the key things to remember that life is a mission - not a career. Success comes in many flavours. We don’t have to measure success in terms of our jobs, wealth, or how we have met other people’s expectations. What we really need is to be successful in the most important areas/roles in our lives and to work toward being an influence/force for good in the world.?

Here are few tips on how you can help yourselves create your best possible future:

Write down what you’d like others to say about you at your funeral. Think about what people will know you for, and what your greatest accomplishments will be. When you look back at your life, what will have given you the most joy and satisfaction? What legacy will you leave behind? Does what you want match where you are now? What goals do you need to set? What adjustments can you make to help you reach those goals? What can you do to encourage someone, make their lives easier, or raise their spirits??By working through this exercise, you’ll be able to create a plan and visualise what you need to do to create your future life. Use the principle of first things first i.e. prioritise your goals around the people and things that matter to you most in life. This principle will also help you forget yourself for a while and instead think about how you can serve others.

Think about what true success means to you. Don’t worry about what others may think, and skip any comparisons with them. What matters to you in your most important roles??Make sure you can identify which changes you need to make in your life to attain the positive results you desire. Then, courageously work toward making these changes happen!

If you want to live your life in crescendo, you should always remember that your most important work lies ahead. Adopting this crescendo mindset, will give you a solid reason to get out of bed in the morning.?

Here are some of the core principles of a crescendo mindset:?

1. Never forget that people are more important than things. Continually renew your commitment to that principle, building and maintaining your relationships with family and friends. Also, think about how you can contribute to the lives of others.?
2. When you have a good thought about someone, communicate it to them at that moment if possible. It may just take a few seconds of your time, but it could inspire that person with confidence or make their day. It will motivate them to be their best self too. There’s an old Japanese proverb that goes like this: “One kind word can warm three winter months.”
3. Find your voice, and inspire others to find their voice. In order to help others find their voice, you first have to work on your own. Once you’re good at something, then you can help others thrive in that same area.?
4. Finally, strive to make the world a better place. You’ll never know when you’ve made your most important contribution or achieved your most important work –?so keep learning, trying, and progressing no matter where you find yourself in life. Don’t look back. Look forward with optimism.?

How would you react if your perfectly planned life fell apart? We may not have control over much of what happens to us in life, but we can choose how we respond. Whatever our circumstances are, we have a choice: we can shut down or live our lives in diminuendo or we can allow faith, hope, imagination, compassion, and joy to to live our lives in crescendo. Some of the key principles for overcoming such setbacks are to accept the challenge, choose happiness and keep believing that life will be good, and help others. So, how can we do this??

There are three important elements: 1-Work on yourself before attempting to change your circumstances. 2-Don’t give in to despair. 3-Leave all the bitterness behind. Forgive and heal as you move forward toward your goals.

But living your life in crescendo no matter the circumstances is only part of the story. You also need to find your "why?". In the face of tragedy, you need to find a new reason to get out of bed in the morning,?a reason to keep moving forward and strive to make the world a better place.

Retirement is another phase of life, which some look forward to and others dread it. Society generally views retirement as a period of winding down. And the retiree has to think about what to do with the time they have left on Earth.?But, in reality retirement is a mindset. We have tons of examples, where many professionals simply refuse to conform to the idea that their usefulness has come to an end. They continue to contribute year in, year out. And they believe that it’s in the retirement phase of their lives that they’ll make their finest contributions. In his book The Stress of Life, Dr. Hans Selye reported an interesting finding about retirees who aren’t as connected and involved as they used to be: their immune systems slow down, and degenerative forces in their bodies accelerate. But if they’re engaged in activities where they encounter eustress – beneficial stress – they have both fulfilment and purpose. And, as a consequence, they live longer.

Eustress creates tension between where we are and where we want to be. It gives us something to live for:?a goal we want to achieve. This idea is also borne out by the Japanese practice of ikigai – a reason for being. A study of over 1,000 Japanese people showed that those who practiced it lived significantly longer than those who didn’t. With their sense of purpose came a sense of satisfaction, and they were less depressed to boot.?

So fight the idea of pulling away as you get older. Instead, dive into projects that give meaning and purpose to you and others. You can switch your focus from career to contribution. Identify a need, and think about where you might be able to make a difference. Is there a problem you can help solve within your community? Think about your vision and passion. What have you learned in raising your family, building and running your business, or working in your profession? What insights do you have to offer about overcoming life’s hurdles? There are many people who need a good mentor in their lives, so share what you know with those who need it. And if you’re in a position to offer financial help, do so. Use your talents, skills, experience, wisdom, and time to make a difference. Serve without requiring a reward –?besides seeing the positive results and joy of others. Think about the difference you could make to others who need you. And draw on your resourcefulness and initiative. Ask questions, and look for smart solutions that involve you and others around you.?

There’s a world of opportunity around you if you continue to live your life with passion and optimism. Whether you choose to live the second half of your life in crescendo or diminuendo is up to you. Dare yourself to make a difference, and adopt a crescendo mindset. Be productive and continue to contribute in this stage of your life –?a time of excitement, change, and enjoyment.?

Throughout your life, be conscious of creating meaningful memories. They’re more precious than anything else. Your memories become a part of you –?and not all of them are good. But the crescendo mindset teaches us that we’re not victims of our past; we can always start anew. So create beautiful moments with your family and friends. Say yes to that camping or hiking trip. Your memories will bind you together, strengthen your relationships, and become the foundation of your lives.

Whatever stage of life you’re in, you can choose a mindset that focuses on continual growth while also contributing to those around you. This is the essence of adopting a forward-thinking mindset or a growth mindset – of living your life in crescendo.?

“The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away.”

-Pablo Picasso