More than one productivity guru has suggested that one should “begin with the end in mind”: no matter what you are pursuing, what impact would you like to have on the world? What do you want people to say about you at your funeral?

I bristle at the concept. It’s not that it’s macabre: it’s that it focuses on others’ perceptions. (I get the intention behind the prompt. I just don’t find it super helpful.)

Instead, I like to remember that we are both author and reader of our own lives. We live with the consequences of what we scrawl for ourselves.

Writing Prompt

As a writer and (former) scholar, I’ve more than once had to write my own third-person bio. It’s an awkward exercise sometimes—and the needs of a specific audience do carry some weight—but what if it were aspirational?

Imagine a book capturing your life in the not-so-distant future. The book jacket would require some details about who you, the author, are.

Write your own jacket blurb, as a vision of your life as you wish it to unfold: what would you want to be able to say in a bio of yourself?

• “Caitie is a ______, living in _______, who enjoys ________…”