The seven · 06 / 07
Impact
Someone is better off because you were here. Make sure of it.
Ocean — depth that remains
The question
Do I matter — is what I'm building going to remain?
Every Sunday, Impact gets a number from 1 to 7, the same as the other six. The scale is the same for all seven:
- 1
- Abandoned. Not in the plan at all.
- 3
- Maintenance. Showing up, going through motions, no intention behind it.
- 5
- In it. Deliberate effort, visible progress, a plan being run.
- 7
- Fully lived. Lived at full intent. You would put this quarter on the record.
Goals people set here
Ideas, not assignments. Each one names a number or a date, so you will know whether you did it.
- Publish one essay a month on what I have actually learned.
- Mentor two people through the year — real time, not favours.
- Finish the first draft of the book by November.
- Give away 2% of income, to one cause, chosen deliberately.
- Teach the workshop four times and rewrite it after each one.
- Leave the team able to run without me by year-end.
Things worth doing once
From the fifty-two actions — one a week, the same for everybody, chosen and never assigned. These are the Impact ones.
- Put the important papers in one placePassports, deeds, policies, pensions. One folder, and one person you trust who knows where it is.
- Make a willIf anybody depends on you, start it this week: book the appointment or open the form. It is for the people who would otherwise have to guess.
- Check who your accounts go toPensions, insurance and some savings accounts name a person. Make sure it is still the right person.
- Set up a standing gift to a causeA monthly amount, any size, to something you would be proud to have backed. It keeps going in the months you forget.
- Write down what only you knowHow the bills get paid, where the water shut-off is, the recipe nobody else has written down. What the house would lose with you.
- Write a letter to keepTo somebody you love, about what you would want them to know. Not for a birthday. Seal it or send it.
- Give an hour a month to somebody starting outSomebody a few years behind you in something you know well. What you pass on is what stays.