Life Plan: Step 2 – Hear the Voices of Your Past

This is the 2nd installment of my Life Plan series. To read the 1st installment, Click Here

Step 2 in creating your Life Plan is to recognize that the best investments we can make during our lifetime is the investment in loving relationships. A man may accumulate vast amounts of money and material possessions, but if he reaches the end of his life without friends and loved ones around him, he dies a poor man.

Life Plan: Step 2 – Hear the Voices of Your Past

“If you were on trial for the crime of being a kind and generous person,
would there be enough evidence to convict you?”

In Step 1, I had you create your dream life with the help of a magic Genie who would grant all of your wishes. All you had to do was decide what you wanted and the Genie would make it happen.

This is a fun, creative process that allows you to explore all the possibilities that are available to you. The hardest part is simply deciding what you want.

In this step, however, we are going to hear the voices of our past.

I learned this technique from Viktor Frankl, in his book “Man’s Search for Meaning.”

I want you to project yourself far into the future.

You have lived a long, fulfilling life. You are still mentally sound, but your time to pass is very near.

You have gathered around you all of the people who have been close to you. Your spouse, children, grandchildren, other family, friends, neighbors, colleagues, pastors/priests/rabbis/religious leaders.

They have all come to tell you what your life has meant to them. They will tell you about your love, compassion, humor, generosity, quick wit–all of the things they love about you and will miss dearly when you are gone.

They will tell you stories about how you interacted them with. Children will tell stories of vacations and quiet, tender moments when just the two of you were there. Of scrapes kissed, of tears wiped away, of important lessons taught. Friends will speak of the mischief you got into, but also of the comfort you gave during dark days in their lives. Colleagues will speak of your wisdom and leadership. People will tell you things about yourself that you had no idea they knew or cared about.

You mattered. You loved. You made a difference in the lives of so many people.

Your task for this step of the Life Plan is to make a list of the cast of characters in this scene: Spouse, Children, Neighbor, Best Friend, Lady from the Grocery Store, Colleague, Priest, etc.

You are now the master playwright. Next to each of the characters listed, write the lines this person will say to tell you how much you and your life has meant to them. Be creative, detailed, and expressive. Tell of humorous events, of meaningful interactions, of gifts given (both known and unknown to you), of lessons learned, of encouragement, of tears shared.

This is your play, the story of your life as told through the words of these people. This is a play that will be acted out on Broadway and made into movies with famous actors in these roles.

This is a story that will have the audience laughing hysterically and crying unashamedly at times. In the end, wiping tears from their eyes, they will applaud and leave the theater hoping their lives will be as beautiful and inspiring as yours was!

Write the script.

This is Step 2 in creating your Life Plan. Our true wealth is not found in material possessions or in our professional or physical accomplishments. Our true wealth is found in the richness of our relationships with people and the affect we have on their lives. You now have the script of the person you want to become.

When you are ready, go on to Step 3.

If you’d like to listen to me talk about this step, it’s on the Life Is A Marathon podcast


Have you ever thought about working with me as your Life Coach? Consider joining my Life Is A Marathon (LIAM) Team Life Coaching Community. You’ll get direct access to me as we work together to help you take your life to the next level, but you’ll also be surrounded by a community of other people just like you with the same goals. Get all the details and join at team.lifeisamarathon.com Do it today!

1 thought on “Life Plan: Step 2 – Hear the Voices of Your Past

  1. Olayanju Phillips

    Nice post Bruce. Maxwell summed it when he said: “success is fleeting-but relationships are lasting”. However, not every script is played out the way it is written. We have to be intentional and sincere in valuing our relationships.

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