Will It Still Matter in 50 Years?

What have you done today that will still matter in 50 years?

That is a question I once wrote in the center of a poster. I was attending a leadership course in the middle of my career. The facilitator asked us to draw a mind map of our life on the page. Our personal life. Our professional life. Our goals. Our priorities. Our responsibilities. Life was full. Maybe too full.  In the middle of the visual I drew of my full life was this question, reminding me that all my to-do’s did not hold equal importance.

When I returned to the office the next week, I hung the poster on my office whiteboard with a couple magnets. It would remind me to prioritize when my platter began to overflow again. Which happened the moment I opened my inbox. In the class, I had felt a new determination to go home at a decent time each day. The people at home were far more important than the meetings and deadlines on my calendar. Yet the feeding of my insatiable appetite for approval came from my career, so I would often stay at the trough late in the day. One day a colleague stopped in my office as she was leaving and pointed to the center of my poster. “Are you doing something that will still matter in 50 years? If not, you need to go home.” It was an accountability check that I did not ask for. It didn’t feel good. But it made me get out of my chair and drive home that day and many days throughout my career.

Later I began to use a modified version of the same question when I laid my head on my pillow each night. “What did I do today that will still matter in 50 years?” This daily check calibrated my priorities. I hated to not have an answer each night. And as much as the questions helped my natural life, they were a greater gift to my eternal life.

Jesus said it this way in Matthew 6.

Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. [Matthew 6:19-20 ESV]

Jesus was referring to material things that money can buy. I believe it is the same for how time is spent. Time gets eaten up by the unimportant when we don’t do the important with intention.

Now I’m at a stage in life when the 50 year question is taking on a different meaning. I expect to live a long time, but not more than 50 years. So the things that will matter then are the investments in younger generations. The foundations that others will build on. Paul talked about it when he wrote to the church in Corinth.

According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder, I laid a foundation and someone else is building upon it. [I Corinthians 6: 10 ESV]

Foundation building does not feed the approval appetite because foundations are unseen. Foundations go unrecognized. Foundation building can take on emotional, financial, or spiritual characteristics. Every word, every dollar, every prayer. All of these help create a foundation that others can build on a long time after we are gone. Firm foundations. They will still matter in 50 years.

Let the 50 year question help you live a better life. If you feel overwhelmed with the busyness of life, ask which things will still matter in 50 years. If you want to know your life has purpose, ask what you did today that will still matter in 50 years. And if you want to ensure something matters in 50 years, build a foundation.