Associated reading: Craft the Life You Want, How to Create a Life Plan
I’ve been putting answering this prompt off for far too long. I put it off because it seemed like such a daunting task to define the “blueprint” for my life. There’s a lot that goes into it and I had convinced myself that I just didn’t have enough time to sit down and really think about it and actually put a concerted effort into planning out my whole life from a high level, but that’s bullcrap. You have the time to do what you choose to make time to do. So, here I am. I am sitting down and making time for this because it is important. It is important to define what your goals in life are in some form or fashion, and this is a great way to do it.
With that being said, I am going to break this down into several pieces. The Journal Jumpstart already breaks it down into three days, but I’m going to break it down further because otherwise I’d probably write a novel. Today’s part is going to be defining the roles I have in my life, and what those roles mean to me.
The first article linked above recommends thinking about what people who are a part of each role would say in a eulogy at your funeral as the best way to help define what these roles mean to you. It is a bit morbid, but as I sit here thinking about the different roles I serve in my life, I’d say thinking of it that way is a pretty effective way to help myself understand my own jumbled mess of thoughts on the matter. So, here are the roles I see in myself, listed from highest to lowest priority:
Julie is my rock. She is likely the single greatest thing I’ve had happen to me. I have never been happier since I met her a few short years ago. I want her to remember me in a similar manner. I want her to remember me as the go-to person for everything she ever needed. I want to have a connection with her so strong that allows every moment we spend together to be special, even if we are doing absolutely nothing. I want her to remember the magic of our relationship rather than struggling to look back and remember anything that stands out in the years we spend together. I’ll consider myself a failure at fulfilling this role if she looks back and just remembers a time that blends together with everything else.
I want to be remembered as a great developer. I want to be remembered as the person that knew his stuff, and that built great things with his vast knowledge of the development world. I want to be remembered as a developer that was good in many fashions – that I was polite and always willing to lend a helping hand to those who are struggling in the development sphere, that I was knowledgeable on the things I chose to dedicate myself to, and that I was a humble person that always knew there was more to learn.
I want to be recognized for a successful business that I built from the ground up. I want to be the leader of a business that is of my own doing and be able to set my own rules and be my own boss.
I want to be remembered as a great friend. I want to be remembered as a person that was always willing to lend an ear to whatever my friend may have had to say. I want to be remembered as the person that my friends knew would always be there when needed, and just an overall good guy.
I want to be remembered as a person that was always humble enough to know that there was always something else to learn. I want to be remembered as the person that made a conscious effort to not be the smartest person in the room so there was always someone or something to learn from. I want to be remembered as the person that continuously pushed myself to make everything I do better and that never stopped learning.
While I don’t see this one coming up at my funeral, I want to be known as a successful community manager. I help manage a relatively sizeable gaming community that is going through some struggles right now, and I want to dig them out of the hole that they’ve dug themselves into. I would love to have a thriving community of like-minded people that love to come together and just enjoy some video games with each other.
I want to be remembered as a person that always had advice or knowledge to share if asked. I don’t want to be remembered as the person that unnecessarily explained themselves, but rather the person that people knew always had an answer to a question or would find one.
There are many roles that I see myself in in my life, and they could change as time goes on. These are the ones that I deem most important right now. These roles and their purposes associated with them are going to help me to establish a plan, or a blueprint, for my life. If I don’t define my own personal priority of the roles that I serve in my life, I can’t define the goals I have. I can’t say I want to start my own huge, successful business without saying my role as an entrepreneur is more important than my role as a community manager, because I’d spend my time in the wrong place in terms of furthering my progress towards that goal.
That’s not to say all of these roles aren’t important. Each one of these is very important to me, otherwise they wouldn’t be listed here. They are listed here because I know I want to dedicate myself to them in some manner. I want to do all of them, but prioritizing each of them will help me truly understand what I want to do and where I should spend the most time.