What do you want to be remembered for?

From Managing the Non-profit Organization by Peter Drucker

When I (Peter Drucker) was thirteen, I had an inspiring teacher of religion, who one day went right through the class of boys asking each one, “What do you want to be remembered for?”

None of us, of course, could give an answer. So, he chuckled and said, “I didn't expect you to be able to answer it. But if you still can't answer it BY THE TIME YOU'RE FIFTY, you will have wasted your life.”

We eventually had a sixtieth reunion of that high school class. Most of us were still alive, but we hadn't seen each other since we graduated, and so the talk at first was a little stilted. Then one of the fellows asked, “Do you remember Father Pfliegler and that question?”

We all remembered it. And each one said it had made all the difference to him, although they didn't really understand that until they were in their forties.

At twenty-five, some of us began trying to answer it and, by and large, answered it foolishly.

Joseph Schumpeter, one of the greatest economists of this century, claimed at twenty-five that he wanted to be remembered as the best horseman in Europe, the greatest lover in Europe, and as a great economist. By age sixty, just before he died, he was asked the question again. He no longer talked of horsemanship and he no longer talked of women. He said he wanted to be remembered as the man who had given an early warning of the dangers of inflation. That is what he is remembered for—and it’s worthwhile being remembered for. Asking that question changed him, even though the answer he gave at twenty-five was singularly stupid, even for a young man of twenty-five.

See Josh Abrams and part V of Managing the Non-profit organization for more on self-development.

Examples of what people are remembered for can be found in obituaries—a list compiled in 2005 or Yahoo's obituaries in the news