YOUR PERSONAL YEAR IN REVIEW!

Hello Friends,

2013 is about to become history.

Each of us experienced memorable events that stand out over the past year. A milestone reached, a defining moment such as a birth, death in the family, promotion, new career, an injury or personal victory.

This is your personal history and only you can document it for posterity. There will NEVER be a better time to do this than now.

To help start the process I want to share a few tips on how best to organize the year's highlights and make documenting each event easier and more enjoyable.

Compiling a list of highlights to work from mitigates the "blank page" effect when you finally have time to write the story. 

Block out about an hour of undisturbed time to reflect and reminisce about the past year. As highlights come to mind, assign a title to each event.

"Joanna is born", "New career", Mom passed away", "Love of my life", "Cancer diagnosed", "Found God", etc. Just create a list of titles at this stage. 

Use the calendar you kept for appointments or events to trigger memories. If you use social networks like Facebook, review your 2013 Timeline. But, only choose posts that are relevant enough to make it into your legacy portfolio. Less is more!!

Create a new story in your LegacyStories.org account and document your list of highlights. From this list you can tell each story when you have time. Even if it takes the entire year to compose 4 or 5 legacy stories, they would be the best of the best for this past year.

Commit another hour to sift through the images on your smartphone, posted on Facebook and Twitter or other social networks during 2013. On your computer, sort your images by date so you can see all photos taken in 2013.

Create a folder on your computer desktop where you can organize carefully selected pictures that absolutely MUST be included in your legacy portfolio.

In the past, our family would get together to watch a few dozen slides together. Today, nobody will ever spend the time to sit through the thousands of images we take each year.

So, before the most important photos of your life are buried in the media ocean, make sure that when people want to learn about you in the future, they will see only the most compelling and meaningful images and stories. That's what they will find most fascinating and inspiring. Make them count!

Compiling this personal "best of the best" list of life events and images is the most important thing you can do for your legacy as this year comes to a close. When time allows, it will be far easier to expand on the stories behind the images and highlights.

I hope this helps you. Please keep this newsletter until you complete this task. It's your legacy and it does matter. Log in to your account to document your list at www.LegacyStories.org.

One more thing. For the sake of people you love and care about please share this legacy lesson and encourage them to start building their legacy now while it is still possible.

It's the perfect time to start and a new year resolution that can make a difference for generations to come. Thank you!

Happy New Year!!

Tom Cormier, President and Legacy Coach