This is an excerpt from ONO about one of the foundational elements of Family First Entrepreneurism, discovering your higher purpose.

Step One: Your Epitaph

The first step is to discovering your higher purpose in life is to figure out what you want your future life to look like. Evaluate where your life is headed now and compare that to your ideal lifestyle. Decide how you can fulfill your potential and leave your mark here on earth. If having to make money were not a part of the equation, what would you do to leave your legacy?

Figuring out that first step is not as tough as it sounds. I was at this exact moment fifteen years ago. I knew I wanted to be a success in business, and I was looking for a plan. I happened to pick up Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey, which soon became one of my all-time favorite books. One of Covey’s suggestions was to look at your goal and then plan steps to get there. He spoke about it in terms of beginning at the end. But how do you look at the end when you’re talking about your life?

Covey introduced the idea of imagining what you would want to be said about you when you die. You might start as I did by writing an epitaph that might go on a headstone. For example, “Devoted Son, Loving Father, He Will Be Missed.”

Step Two: Your Eulogy

Next, go deeper than that. Really think about what you want to accomplish in your life and write your own eulogy. Write a script that you would want to be read aloud at your funeral. What kind of person were you? Who and what were most important in your life? On what things, large and small, did you leave your mark? By the way, your eulogy would probably never mention your net worth.

Writing my own eulogy was one of the most humbling and inspiring tasks I have ever undertaken. I used it to figure out my three-fold Higher Purpose. It was at that point that I realized that money had to be there before I could make those things happen. My goal then became to reach the point where I had more money than I would ever need, so that I would have options about how I spent my money, and more importantly, how I spent my time.

So, write your eulogy. Once that is finished, the intentional journey begins. Once you look at what you want to accomplish in your life, you will know your Higher Purpose. This is your goal. Write it down and keep it handy; it will make it so much easier.