What would you change if you knew you would be dead in 1 day? Would you spend more time at work, pouring over budget figures, and trying to figure out how you were going to make this quarter's numbers? Would you read just 1 more e-mail from a complaining co-worker? Would you check your voicemail one last time? What would your obituary say about your life?

If you're like me, I'd bet you wouldn't do anything work-related. In fact, I would bet you would see if there was any way to extend that 1 day into 6 months or more, because there is SO much you have yet to accomplish. You would vow to make a difference in your family, with your friends, in your community, maybe even in the world. Maybe you'd see if you could sky dive, climb Pike's Peak, or snorkel the Great Barrier Reef.

If you knew when the end was, I'd guess you would do all those things you've been meaning to do, but that you just never had the time to do.

Guess what? You won't know when the end is, so you better start living like you were dying today! Dr. Steven Covey, in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People talks about how we each must begin with the end in mind. This is as valuable advice for your life, just as it is valuable for goal setting, projects, or anything else you do in your work.

Take the time to write your personal mission statement. Franklin Covey has a great free tool to help you do this, located at http://www.franklincovey.com/missionbuilder/

I strongly encourage you to take 30-40 minutes to build your personal mission statement, your team mission statement, and share this with others that you feel may benefit from this life clarity.

Now that you have this clarity what will you do to make your life better on a daily basis? My goal is to pack the rest of the book full of little things you can do to take control of your life and Make It Great!I hope you are able to glean one or two nuggets that you can immediately put to work in your family, your life, your world, and that after finishing this book, you are ready to Make it Great! Think about the one thing you can you do to make your life better right now?

Then do it right now and do whatever it takes to Make It Great!

Phil Gerbyshak

Phil Gerbyshak's first book, 10 Ways to Make It Great!, was published in 2006. He's currently dedicating his life to helping people crank up their life and take it from good...to GREAT! As a motivational speaker and writer, Phil has dedicated his life to self-improvement and lifelong learning, and loves to help others unlock the greatness inside of them. Phil enjoys exploring innovative ways to lead and motivate himself and others, and help you build relationships online and offline.

Quoting Phil: "If there's ever anything I can do for you, please ask and if I can do it, I will."