Eulogies typically only talk about two things:
1) Service
2) Character
If we begin with the end in mind, it tells us that we should spend our time solving hard problems to serve others - and in so doing - become the person worthy of solving them.

Write your own obituary, the one you’d like to have, and then everyday work towards making it true.

If you carefully consider what you wanted to be said of you in the funeral experience, you will find your definition of success.

Don’t reserve you kindest praise
for a person until their eulogy. Tell them while they are alive
when it makes a difference to them
Write it in a letter they can keep.

Take good care of your final word. If your final say will hunt you in day's ahead, then hold back the words, and let silence speak.

Don’t reserve your kindest praise for a person until their eulogy. Tell them while they are alive, when it makes a difference to them. Write it in a letter they can keep.

it is very telling what we don’t hear in eulogies. We almost never hear things like: “The crowning achievement of his life was when he made senior vice president.” Or: “He increased market share for his company multiple times during his tenure.” Or: “She never stopped working. She ate lunch at her desk. Every day.” Or: “He never made it to his kid’s Little League games because he always had to go over those figures one more time.” Or: “While she didn’t have any real friends, she had six hundred Facebook friends, and she dealt with every email in her in-box every night.” Or: “His PowerPoint slides were always meticulously prepared.” Our eulogies are always about the other stuff: what we gave, how we connected, how much we meant to our family and friends, small kindnesses, lifelong passions, and the things that made us laugh.

Every now and then I guess we all think realistically about that day when we will be victimized with what is life's final common denominator — that something we call death. We all think about it. And every now and then I think about my own death, and I think about my own funeral. And I don't think of it in a morbid sense. Every now and then I ask myself, "What is it that I would want said?" And I leave the word to you this morning. If any of you are around when I have to meet my day, I don't want a long funeral. And if you get somebody to deliver the eulogy, tell them not to talk too long. Every now and then I wonder what I want them to say. Tell them not to mention that I have a Nobel Peace Prize, that isn't important. Tell them not to mention that I have three or four hundred other awards, that's not important. Tell him not to mention where I went to school. I'd like somebody to mention that day, that Martin Luther King, Jr., tried to give his life serving others. I'd like for somebody to say that day, that Martin Luther King, Jr., tried to love somebody. I want you to say that day, that I tried to be right on the war question. I want you to be able to say that day that I did try to feed the hungry. I want you to be able to say that day that I did try in my life to clothe those who were naked. I want you to say, on that day, that I did try, in my life, to visit those who were in prison. I want you to say that I tried to love and serve humanity. Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice; say that I was a drum major for peace; I was a drum major for righteousness. And all of the other shallow things will not matter. I won't have any money to leave behind. I won't have the fine and luxurious things of life to leave behind. But I just want to leave a committed life behind. And that's all I want to say.

I'm always relieved when someone is delivering a eulogy and I realize I'm listening to it.

If you don't want to slip up tomorrow, speak the truth today.

Waste not a day in vain digression;
with resolute, courageous trust
seek every possible impression
and make it firmly your posession
you'll then work on because you must.

Write what should not be forgotten.

Why do we spend so much of our limited time on this earth focusing on all the things that our eulogies will never cover?

Begin with your legacy in mind. Do your research and make an effort to find information that’s not easily findable.