I was watching an update on Good Morning America host Robin Roberts, recently, in regards to her battle with Cancer and MDS (Yeah – how unlucky are you to get both!).  I like Robin, because before GMA, she was an ESPN announcer and before that a basketball player.  She also spoke at my wife’s NCAA Female Athlete of the year ceremony way back in our college days – so we have been fans of her for a long time.  Anyway, she is a fighter and returned to GMA this past month.  This post is not about her – it’s about how she makes people feel.

In the ABC update on her health, they interviewed some of her co-workers and one of them said this:

“Robin makes my world Happier, every day.”

I’ve really never been one to think about how others think of me. Or for that matter how others will think of me when I’m gone, but this struck me instantly.  Everyone thinks about how they want to be remembered in very different ways.  Maybe you want people to remember you as kind, or charitable, or caring.   Some will want to be remembered for helping others, or helping a certain cause they are fond of.  Others will want to be remembered as a good partner or parent or friend.  Everyone thinks of this in a very personal context and some refuse to think of it all, scared of even thinking of their own mortality.

I like the happiness concept.  I like it a lot!  You see, I have high expectations in life and I know I put those expectations onto others – my wife, my sons, my family and friends – those who I work with.  I expect that when someone sees something wrong, they’ll fix it.  I expect when you’re not doing your best work, you’ll make the necessary changes to turn that around.  I expect greatness, not goodness, not average, and I want people around me who want better, who want more, who aren’t satisfied.

That being said – I don’t want to be remembered as being someone who wasn’t satisfied with life.  I love life.  I love my wife and kids.  I love what I do for a living.  I want to be like Robin.  I want to be that person when someone asks to describe ‘Tim’ they say – “He makes my world Happier.”  I’m not there right now.  I have some happiness work to do.  But I love the goal I’ve set for myself: Make someones world Happier!  That’s a goal I can strive for everyday.