A Place Where To Read Experiences And Words Of Wisdom From Those You Love….

Jeff Davis, President and CEO of the Wisdom Will

By Paula Pinto

If you are anything like me- you like hearing about other’s life experiences, words of wisdom (so to say), reading through a few thought-provoking quotes etc. 

I use to sit beside my grandmother and basically interview her. Her life was a story of dedication, compassion, sacrifice, hard work, lots of love and I even caught a love story as I listened…. 

My dad spoke in quotes much of the time. I can still hear his words, “The man who doesn’t plan, plans to the fail” or “Are they sorry they did it or sorry they got caught?” There were so many others but his point was to get a message across. To teach a life lesson to someone. I didn’t understand the messages as much then as I do now. I wish he’d written every word down. I give him credit for having notes of a lot of it…… 

That said, I came across the Wisdom Will. When you think of a will you think of possessions left to those we love but this will is something more and I’d like the President and CEO of the organization, Jeff Davis, to tell you more about it  

Paula: I am greatly intrigued by the Wisdom Will. Can you tell readers what the purpose of it is?

Jeff: The purpose is to encourage and help parents to capture and record all the things they’ve learned in their own lives that would help make life easier and more fruitful for their children. 

For the parents of young children, it serves as an insurance policy that they will someday know all the things you planned to teach them. As your children grow up it becomes a living document that they’ll have access to during and long after your lifetime. It would be a very meaningful gift to give a child when they graduate from high school and head off into adulthood. In some ways, it would serve as their roadmap for life.

P: What caused you to create it? 

J: When my children were younger I would run into situations that made me think, “someday my son is going to run into this exact same situation or decision, I should warn him”. This kept happening and the thoughts of them never knowing all these things really kept me up at night. I looked online for a tool that would help me do this because it’s a pretty intimidating task to take on. I just didn’t know where to start. But I finally just started writing and before I knew it I’d written about 20 pages. Some of it was personal to me and my family but I realized a lot of it would be beneficial to most any young person. But at the time I was just relieved I had recorded all those things for my children. 

I didn’t create the Wisdom Will service until months later when our house burned down in the middle of the night. We all got out safely (thanks be to God) but it reminded me how fragile life is. And more importantly, it reminded me of the value of people and relationships. The outpouring of support from our friends and neighbors was truly humbling. 

P: I’d urge that not only parents but grandparents be part of it. What are your thoughts about that?

J: About 5 years ago my dad had a stroke and hasn’t been the same since. He’s still with us but I can no longer have a meaningful conversation with him. And my children have never known him as the fun and wise grandfather that he really is. I wish so much that he had left something like a Wisdom Will for me that I could still refer to today and someday pass down to my children.

P: What’s some feedback that you’ve received from members?

J: I think what our members seem to appreciate most is how we’ve made it easy to get started. We’ve divided the site into 16 different categories ranging from attitude, education and money management to marriage, parenting, and career. There are also sections to record the good and not-so-good decisions you’ve made and you can also create your own categories. Each category comes with helpful content to get the parent thinking and you can use as much of our content as you’d like.

One other thing. There’s some healthy self-reflection involved as you’re creating this for your children. For me, it highlighted some areas of my life where I would benefit from practicing what I’m preaching a little bit more. And it has helped me catch myself and take a deep breath sometimes when my kids have pushed me to the limit!

P: Can you share a portion of something you’ve written in your Wisdom Will?

J: My favorite category is Rules of Thumb for Happiness and Success. It’s full of wise sayings and quotes. Here’s one I wrote to my children that’s also included on the site: There will always be people with more and there will always be people with less. Don’t get caught up in what other people have. Let them inspire you, but don’t envy them. The real question is, “Do I like my life”? If it’s “yes”, you’re in good shape. If it’s “no”, get busy changing your circumstances. The only person that can do that is you. 

P: Fantastic! What good advice to ensure you’ve passed along to your children. In order for others to join can you please provide the link for them.

J: Please visit us at wisdomwill.com. You can go straight to the Get Started page or read more about us and check out some sample pages.

Jeff, it’s been a pleasure speaking to you and learning more about this wonderful, organization plus having the opportunity to share it will others so they can become part of the Wisdom Will.