If you could accomplish just three things today, what would those things be?

Let’s make that question a little broader. If you could accomplish just three things this week — no, wait, let’s say just three things this month — what would those things be?

Well, what if you could only accomplish three things this year? What three things would you choose?

When we think about tasks we want to accomplish today, or this week, we focus on pretty mundane, maintenance type things. Today, I personally want to get my kitchen cleaned. And a couple other not-so significant things. Big deal; it’s just one day. The things we want to accomplish in any given month aren’t usually a whole lot bigger — they’re just a string of must-dos. And it’s no big deal, because it’s just one month.

But now, consider this — because it’s something I’ve been considering lately, and wrestling with. If you could accomplish only three things in your entire life, what would those three things be?

Those things, your legacy, are what will remain of you after you’re gone. They’re what your kids and your grandkids will remember. They’re what will impact your community positively or negatively — or not at all.No one is going to remember the mundane, maintenance activities that clogged our to-do lists. Yes, they’re important to living our lives, but we — or at least I — get so caught up in them sometimes that I lose perspective.

We need to live our lives to leave a legacy; it won’t simply happen on its own if we don’t take the initiative to go out and do the important things that set it in motion. So take the time to really think about it. If you could accomplish only three things in your life — things that matter, that will affect the people you love or make the world a better place — what would they be?

And then think about something just as essential: Are you doing anything with your life right now to make those accomplishments happen?

~ Laura