Day One Reads – Everyday Legacy
I’m thrilled that for this edition of Day One Reads we get to feature a book that is being released TODAY! I was lucky enough to receive an advanced reading copy a couple of months ago, and I’ve been excited to share and recommend this wonderful book right out of the gate.
Everyday Legacy: Lessons for Living With Purpose, Right Now
Category*: Reflective
Authors: Codi Shewan
About the author: Codi Shewan spent two decades working in the death-care profession, until in 2014 he leapt from an executive position in corporate funeral services to the entrepreneurial world. As a consultant and speaker, he’s on a mission to redefine “legacy” as something that you personify each day of your life: you can realize the power of your own positive influence while you’re still here. He is also the founder of From Strangers to Family, an experience which helps people feel connected in an often disconnected world.
Website: codishewan.com
How I found it: My friend Mark Black reached out to ask if I’d be willing to provide a “book blurb” for his friend Codi. As a general rule Mark surrounds himself with great people, so I gave it a shot!
Book Jacket description:
What if your legacy isn’t what you leave behind, but something you create, every day of your life? What if you started acting the way you want to be remembered – right now – and shared your unique gifts with the world? In Everyday Legacy, Codi Shewan inspires readers to redefine how they live and embrace the idea of living – not leaving – a legacy. His message is simple, yet powerful: In each moment, you have the ability to change yourself and those around you, in profound ways.
This book is for anyone who wants to rethink their own legacy and start living it now. Everyday Legacy shares vital lessons for living, informed by Shewan’s experiences as a funeral director who developed a deep understanding of the reality of death. From tales of unexpected friendship as a young volunteer in palliative care to what he learned through his estranged father’s funeral, Everyday Legacy shows us what it means to be deeply human, undeniably mortal – and how to choose a life that matters.
How well I feel it delivered on what the jacket promised (scale out of 10 with 10 being completely delivered): 10
Amazon Rating: Not yet available
Goodreads Rating: Not yet available
Who I think should pick it up: Okay, full disclosure: I get a lot of requests to provide book testimonials and have to say no to most, but I’m so glad I had the chance to read this book. I believe anyone can benefit from Codi’s unique perspective.
Who might want to leave it on the shelf: Anyone who just really freaks out at the thought of their own death. I will say this however: this gives you a different perspective on something that we tend to universally fear. I don’t think there’s anyone who shouldn’t at least explore this book.
“Velcro quotes” (ideas that are going to stick with me moving forward):
• “Much like the mindset of perfect love at first sight often leaves people without love, the mindset of perfect passion at first encounter often leaves people without passion. A better approach to finding your passion is to lower the bar from perfect to interesting, then give yourself permission to pursue your interests with an open mind.”
• “You are going to die. Creating an Everyday Legacy is about taking that inevitable fact and shifting your intention from leaving a legacy to living it.”
• “My grandmother knew the difference between efficiency and effectiveness. For her, there was no such thing as an efficient way to make tea; there was only an effective way.”
• “When it’s hard to articulate why you are attracted to someone, that’s often a sign that it’s a good fit.”
How likely I think I am to make a positive reference to this book in the next 30 days: 100%. In fact, I provided this testimonial:
I put Everyday Legacy down and thought: “how on earth did a book that told me to think about my death get me so excited to go out and live?” But that’s what it did, and that’s why you should read it.
How likely I’ll put something I learned in this book to use in the next 30 days: 100%
Total Pages: 133
Total “pulled passages”: 26
Page to Pulled Passage Ratio**: 5.1:1
P2P Ranking within category for 2020: #1 of 2
Overall P2P Ranking for 2020: #2 of 3.
*I break books into one of three categories in order to better compare apples-to-apples.
- Reflective: Relies on first-person stories or insights
- Biographical: Tells the story of an individual or organization from a third-person perspective
- Research-based: The author(s) collect third-party research to support their discussion of a particular topic.
**As I read, I highlight certain passages/insights that really connect with me. Things that make me think “buying this book was worth it for ideas/information like that.” At the end of the book, I go back and “pull” them from the book and copy them all into a single document. P2P Ratio indicates how many pages on average tend to go by between these particularly powerful insights. This book’s 5.1:1 ratio means I felt there was a passage worth pulling out and writing down every 5.1 pages.
