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Did I Live, Did I Love, Did I Matter?

by JD

The Charge

“It is not the things we do in life that we regret on our death bed. It is the things we do not. Find your passion and follow it.” — Randy Pausch

While three questions can’t sum up your life, they can help you shape your life.

And, sometimes a look back, is a great way to leap forward.

Or in this case, a flash-forward is a great way to focus or re-focus your life, and find your drive.

I’ve always been a believer that if we start with the end in mind, we can shape our lives better than if we just make it up as we go along.

Direct Your Life in a More Deliberate Way

While I’m a fan of going with the flow, making the most from wherever we are, improv, spontaneity, and surprises in life, I’m also a fan of having a few North Stars in place to guide our journey.

In the book, The Charge: Activating  the 10 Human Drives That Make You Feel Alive, Brendon Burchard shares the three questions that changed his life, and helped him live life more fully.

In an accident that nearly took his life, Brendon came to terms with three question that helped launch his life to a new level, and direct his life in a more deliberate way, to live more, love more, and make things matter.

We Ask Three Questions

When we face death, we ask three questions.

Via The Charge: Activating  the 10 Human Drives That Make You Feel Alive:

“In brief, after being in a car that flipped over a curve at eighty-five miles an hour, I learned that when we crash onto death’s doorstop, we’re all forced to ask three questions:

Did I live? Did I love? Did I matter? 

It was a soul-shaking experience to say the least, and it made me question everything in my life.  I have never really lived life before, and the accident made me get serious about doing so.”

Live Your Life

Brendon shares a quote that reminds both of the inevitable and the way forward.

Via The Charge: Activating  the 10 Human Drives That Make You Feel Alive:

“It was Virgil’s quote that summed up my feelings: ‘Death twitches my ear. Live, he says, I am coming.’  I decided to use my ticket to a second change to consciously create a better life, so that when I round my final corner, I’ll be happy with the answers at the end.”

Live Your Life More Fully

When you live more, love more, and make more meaning, you change the game of life.

Via The Charge: Activating  the 10 Human Drives That Make You Feel Alive:

“My ticket  turned out to be good for fifteen remarkable years of vibrancy, connection, and meaning.  In that span of time, I discovered and mastered 10 human drives you will learn in this book. 

I built multimillion-dollar businesses, coached some of the world’s most famous celebrities and executives, wrote a few books, fell in love, got married, supported my family in difficult times, traveled the world, blasted easily through almost every challenge, spoke on stages with legendary thought leaders and motivators, and hung out with moguls and ex-presidents, and gave and achieved more than I could have ever imagined.”

Are you living?

Are you loving?

Are you making meaning for yourself and others?

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JD

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