I’m so excited to introduce you Jeff Davis, who happens to be the husband of my sweet friend Katherine. Jeff has brilliantly found a solution for an issue that parents have been dealing with since the beginning of time—sharing important life lessons with their kids. Wisdom Will is a terrific tool for parents to organize and chronicle their thoughts on a variety of important subjects that they wish to pass on to their children. Sharing life experiences is especially crucial during this graduation season as kids leave home for the first time. It’s also a perfect gift to give for Father’s Day which is right around the corner!
Jeff Davis
Hometown: Winston-Salem NC
Married to Katherine Crafe Davis since 2000
Children: Grace (16) Daniel (14) and Sara (11)
How did you come up with the idea of creating the Wisdom Will site?
Over a period of several years I would have moments in life where something would happen and I’d think to myself, “my children will eventually run into this situation, I should warn them and make sure they know how to handle it.” Since they were too young to discuss most of these things with at the time I would think, “I really need to start writing these things down for them.” But then I would get busy with something else and forget about it until the next time. As this kept happening I realized just how much my life experiences could help them. It would be like living with the gift of hindsight, and the thought of them never benefitting from this information was very troubling to me. It became so troubling that I began to look for a tool that would make it easy for me to get started. I didn’t find one so I just started writing things down. The writing part comes naturally to me and before I knew it I had written over 20 pages. Some of this was personal information that would only be relevant to my children, but I realized the vast majority of it would be beneficial to most any young person. That’s when I realized I had created something that could be beneficial to other families.
Sharing knowledge with your children is so important but the idea of organizing your thoughts
and writing them all down can be so daunting—especially if you aren’t a gifted writer. How does Wisdom Will help?
The website is divided up into 16 different topics plus an opening and closing message. Each of those comes with pre-populated content that you can use as much or as little of as you’d like. The idea is the provided content helps you get started and stay one course whether you use it, expand on it, or it simply gets you thinking about what you want your child to know about a particular topic.
What are some examples of topics that you cover? Can you customize your topics?
Topics range from education, money and career to marriage, parenting and faith. There are also sections to capture some of the good and bad decisions you’ve made as well as my favorite, the Wisdom Will rules of thumb for a happy and successful life. You can also create your own topics.
So once you’ve completed your Wisdom Will what happens then?
All of your content is converted into your official Wisdom Will document. You can elect to keep your membership active with us in case you want to add more content, or simply download it to present when you’re ready.
Giving a subscription to Wisdom Will would be such a terrific gift idea. It’s perfect for the person who has everything but also lets the recipient know that you think they have a lot of valuable wisdom to share! How do you purchase Wisdom Will as a gift?
Just visit wisdomwill.com and click the gift/redeem tab. Once you’ve purchased Wisdom Will as a gift you’ll receive a code that you’ll present to the gift recipient.
What is your long term hope for people using Wisdom Will?
My hope is to have a positive impact on as many families as possible. I say families because the child that receives a Wisdom Will isn’t the only one that benefits. I found as I worked on mine for my children the self reflection involved highlighted some areas in my own life that I wanted to improve on. I also feel comforted knowing my grandchildren will someday have the benefit of this information as well.
Is a Wisdom Will similar to a living will or last will and testament?
Yes and no. A Wisdom Will is not a legal document and I’m not an attorney. But I believe it can be every bit as important. The Wisdom Will is designed as a gift you work on over time and present to your child at the time of your choosing (mine will be as a high school graduation gift). But we have steps in place to ensure your Wisdom Will makes it to your child if you are unable to present it yourself. My hope is your Wisdom Will will be a living document your children have access to during and long after your lifetime.
To learn more about Wisdom Will, visit https://wisdomwill.com.
