Everyone should think about their tombstone more often.
A will is a plan for after you die. A tombstone is a record of how you lived — written by the people who knew you. Your family, your friends, your colleagues. The people who were actually there.
You are what others think of you. Every word, every action — someone remembers it. And when it’s over, those people are the ones who decide what the summary looks like.
So what do you want them to say?
If you work backwards from that — not pretending to be someone you’re not, but actually holding that image — it starts to shape you. Words have a way of doing that. Think about something long enough and it becomes a compass.
Steve Jobs called death life’s best invention. It clears out the old to make way for the new — but it also clarifies. When you know the end is coming, the noise falls away. That’s the version of this I keep coming back to.
That’s what a tombstone really is. A customized life plan, written in reverse.
Mine would say something like:
Because of him, the world became full of love.
He made humanity more thoughtful.
STEM experienced a profound leap in innovation.
People were able to take more risks and make bold statements in the market.
I’ve been sitting with these for a while. They still feel right.
January 15, 2024