The most valuable piece of land in the world

In 2000, Todd Henry was in a work meeting with colleagues when a guest posed a question. The guest asked, What do you think is the most valuable land in the world? They were hosting that day. Todd answered with a typical response: “Oil fields in the Middle East? Gold or mines in South Africa?” The guy responded to the question with the words of the late Bahamian preacher Myles Munroe. “I believe the most valuable land in the world is the graveyard. In the graveyard are buried all of the unwritten novels, the untaken risk, and the unfinished business. In the graveyard are buried all of the unexecuted ideas and the unreconciled relationships. All of the stuff we carry with us the entire lives that we never put into the world.” I have met Todd Henry and Myles Monroe on separate occasions and shared the speaker’s platform with them.

That day some 20 years ago, Todd Henry went home, wrote two words on an index card, and hung them up in his office. Those two words have to find the last two decades of his life. “DIE EMPTY”

Todd said, “I want to know when I reach the bookend of my life that I’m not taking my best work to the grave, that I’m doing everything I can every day to put that work into the world and be of value to others. And I’m building a body of work I can point to at the end of my life and say, yes, that represents me. I want to make sure I’m not allowing myself to succumb to fear apathy. Or the paralysis from uncertainty so that someday I can die empty of regret and full of satisfaction for a well-lived life.” Todd has written five best-selling books, launched one of the first podcasts, and spoken on stages worldwide, including in the Philippines. Together with friends, I helped organize the learning event.

Many of my friends my age has retired. Many people I know are in retirement mode. Learning from Todd, I have been inspired to be intentional about my daily actions and strive to inspire others to be purposeful about living a life of excellence.

I am sure there are great things we have always wanted to do. But in the fuzziness and busyness of life, we think, “Well, I will just get started tomorrow. Tomorrow is the day I will take the first step. And tomorrow comes, and we push it to another day until one day, we reach the bookend of our lives, and all of that value is buried in the ground, never to be seen and recognized. We have our unfinished tasks and uncompleted goals, and all of that executed value is buried with us in the ground. And thus, we have contributed to making the graveyard more valuable.”

Todd Henry says: “Embrace the importance of now, and refuse to allow the lull of comfort, fear, familiarity, and ego to prevent you from taking action on your ambitions… The cost of inaction is vast. Don’t go to your grave with your best work inside of you. Choose to die empty.”

Henry also says: “The great problems we see in the world today will not be solved by people functioning at half capacity cranking out work they don’t care about to buy more things that will eventually rust and rot.” “Emptying yourself of your best work isn’t just about checking off tasks on your to-do list; it’s about making steady, critical progress each day on the projects that matter in all areas of life.”

I guess the question now is, “What are you working on today that really matters, or are you just caught up doing the same mundane thing with dreams, aspirations, and great goals tucked up till tomorrow that would never see the light of day as it will end buried in the graveyard? Something for you, all of us, to reflect on. Please do not put it off for tomorrow because what matters most must matter now.

(Francis Kong’s podcast “Inspiring Excellence” is now available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or other podcast streaming platforms).