Covey’s Final Contribution: How to Live Your Best Life No Matter What

Stephen R. Covey inspired millions of people to find their voice and help others to do the same. His passion was to help others make their lives more effective, compassionate and meaningful. I remember reading Seven Habits of Highly Effective People in my youth and the profound impact it had on me then. And these foundational principles continue to guide me to this day.

So I was thrilled to discover his final book, published posthumously: Live Life in Crescendo: Your Most Important Work is Always Ahead of You .

Before his death (just over a decade ago on July 16, 2012), his daughter, Cynthia Covey Haller, co-authored what their “family consider his final contribution – his “last lecture” – his concluding opus,” as she describes the book itself. Live Life in Crescendo is chalked full of inspiration and optimism about living your best life no matter what your age. It shares deep wisdom about responding to setbacks, challenges and opportunities especially later in life.

With my mom being a retired elementary music teacher and both my father and brother being Ph.D.’s in music education and performing arts, I especially loved all the music-related analogies contained in this book. To live life in crescendo, means you are building on all the previous notes from the music of your life. Or, as Covey so eloquently puts it:

“In music, crescendo means to continually swell and grow in grandeur, and to increase energy, volume and vigor … diminuendo means exactly the opposite.”

We are constantly at choice no matter what state of our lives we are in. We can choose to continue to build and grow our energy through contribution, or we can choose to fade out, being “content to rely on what you’ve already accomplished, and eventually you stop producing and contributing.”

Cynthia Covey Haller was kind enough to speak with me about Live Life in Crescendo and highlight some of the incredible wisdom found in this book.

The Meaning & Purpose of Life

Pablo Picasso that says:

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

In our interview together, Cynthia Covey Haller explains that this could be the mission statement for this book. To live life in crescendo means that you consciously, “choose a forward-thinking mindset that focuses on always learning and growing through life’s ebbs and flows, while you continually look for ways to contribute to those around you.”

This mindset is in total alignment with what Positive Intelligence calls The Sage Perspective and it is truly how I have amassed as much success in life as I have. When you see that everything can be turned into a gift and opportunity, even the hardest parts of your life are filled with learning and growth opportunities. Looking for ways to contribute to those around you becomes your purpose in life – to give away your gift to those all around you.

In The Book of Joy (by the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu) the same philosophy is underscored. Joy and happiness are the outcomes of contribution. Acting upon all the many ways you can contribute to those around you is what brings you joy, happiness and fulfillment in your life. So while money can’t buy you happiness, contribution to others can and does. The more you life a life of gratitude and contribution, the more you live into your own life’s purpose. That, in turn, allows you to continue to build a crescendo in the arc of your life.

The Three Things We Need Most

While we all seek creature comforts. Most of us desire a comfortable home, educational opportunities, transportation and recreation, but these are not what we need. According to Cynthia Covey Haller, the three things we need most are time, love, and attention. As she says in her book, “There is so much pressure to excel in a career, to achieve ‘success’ as the world views it, to do it all by a certain age or stage, that it pulls at (and distorts) those things that truly matter most in life.”

At the end of your life looking back, you won’t care about the money in your bank account or the achievements so proudly displayed on your wall. What will matter most to you is the quality time you spent with those most important to you, the love you give (and receive) and the attention you gave (and received) from those people who are most important in your life.

Time, love and attention. These are the three things that we both crave for ourselves and the most powerful gifts we can give to another human being. As we look to grow the most important relationships in our life, Cynthia Covey Haller encourages us to see where we are devoting our own time, love and attention. It’s never too late to shift our focus – especially as we live into the belief that our most important work is always ahead of us as the subtitle of the book reinforces.

The Two Most Powerful Tools to Heal and Enjoy Life

No matter what setbacks you have experienced in your life, if you’re wondering how to recreate your life, look no further than gratitude and forgiveness. Cynthia Covey Haller reinforces this point and underscores how anyone can take any setback they have experienced and use gratitude and forgiveness to Live Life in Crescendo.

The most important person we need to forgive is ourselves. How harshly our inner-critic judges us for the imperfect human beings we are. When we forgive ourselves, we can invite compassion into our life and have gratitude for who we are and all that we have already accomplished. No matter where we find ourselves in this journey of life, forgiveness and gratitude will set us on a course to Live Life in Crescendo despite any circumstances we may find ourselves in.

I encourage you to watch my interview with Cynthia Covey Haller. She is a master storyteller and recounts some of the most inspirational stories of everyday heroes and heroines who choose to live their life in crescendo.

I never had the chance to meet Stephen R. Covey while he was alive. But when I listen to his daughter speak about his legacy and the work contained in this book, I experience the spark that Stephen R. Covey left in his children – each who have gone on to do incredible contributions in their own right. See if you can catch the Covey spirit in our interview and then do yourself a huge favor and pick up your copy of Live Life in Crescendo: Your Most Important Work is Always Ahead of You . You will be so glad you did.

Bill Carmody is a TEDx Storyteller and the Chief Coaching Officer for Positive Intelligence . He is also the bestselling author of The Three Rules of Marriage .