Building Your Legacy

For some time into the future, the Christmas holiday will fill me with tremendous sadness and sorrow. It was this time of the year that I lost two individuals that were very close to me. My grandmother took ill on Christmas day 2009 and passed early in the New Year 2010. On Christmas day 2012, my grandfather passed after a long period of illness with diabetes and high blood pressure. The entrepreneurial spirit was strong within both, having owned and operated different businesses throughout their lives. The lessons learnt for them were invaluable: striving for financial freedom, creating a balance with work and family, being decisive and taking steps to improve your life. These lessons have left an indelible mark on my life and have also prompted me to question my own mortality and the purpose of being here and now.

“Every day you have the opportunity to learn and experience some-thing and some-one new. Seize the opportunity. Learn and experience everything you can, and use it to change the world.” Rodney Williams (born 1959);  

Define Your Legacy

I imagine what people would say after my passing – at the end of the road, would I have made a significant contribution to humanity. At some point in everyone life, this question is raise in one's consciousness. Quite a morbid topic to raise so early in the New Year but one worth serious though at whatever stage of life you are at or whatever the season. It is ever more pertinent at this time of the year when goals are being set. The beauty with this line of questioning is that it forces one to think long term and change our perspective to be in sync with our personnel goals. What you leave behind is totally up to you? Beyond the contents of your last will and testament, what part of you remains on earth even after you've passed away, is totally in your hands. People all desire to live exemplary life's, filled with glorious experiences. Most humans yearn to make positive contribute to society and leave a rich Legacy.

Your Legacy is what shapes your life, for most people, it is what drives their decision and focus. It's something you create during your life, solely to benefit future generations, something you may never see come to fruition. Your Legacy is a gift to humanity, a living testament of your lives’ work, the embodiment of your effort to leave the world a better place than when you entered it.

With each deliberate action along life’s path, one shape and fashion his/her Legacy through hard work and dedication. It is a labour of love, something that stirs passion deep in the pit of your gut, it is that burning desire that keep you up at night, it is that sense of unfulfilled that spur your on to more loftier goals.

Live the life you desire; where at the end you will have no regrets. Living with remorse will kill you faster than heart attack. Travel the world, experience different culture, let your palette savoury exotic cuisine, start a business venture, spend more time with family, if these things are essential to the formulation of your legacy. Of primary importance however, is the fact that, you have to take action now to pursue those hopes and dreams.

 

Understand your Legacy.

Why is it important to ever consider your Legacy? Firstly, whether your belief it or not, you will leave a Legacy behind. The only question is, do you want to be the author of your own Legacy or are your stories, the gems of knowledge your leave to be interpreted by others. I said, be the author of your stories, be courageous and take action, blaze a path across the pages of the history. Ultimately, it is your decision, what kind of Legacy you'll leave for posterity.

Drive your Legacy.

Whatever Legacy you choose, it requires commitment and dedication to distillation your accumulated life work into easily transferrable information. In deciding exactly what you want to put out into the world, look inward first. Through introspection, focus on your strength, your true strength may not be obvious. A lot of people tend to focus on their professional skillset but focusing only on your professional ability may not lead to true self-actualisation. Instead focus on the specific skills and talent you possess; concentrate on how these are transferrable which would make them more widely applicable. By focusing on a narrow window, the scope of the people you are able to impact and improve on their life's journey is limited.

“Everybody can be great. Because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve.... You don't have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love. ” Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968);

Let your passion guide you, find out what interest you and bring you tremendous joy effortlessly. Most people are naturally drawn to their interest, to the settings, activities and people that allow them to express their life's goal.

Life Statement

Define a vision for your life, a life statement that will guide your every action. Network marketer may have a life statement such “To be the best marketer for their team”. Setting such a statement for your life is important because it set your direction and it also determines the Legacy you leave. Focus on your life statement throughout your journey, and use it to keep focus.

Take Action

After determining the plan of action for your life and setting your goals, it is time to implement. Take concrete steps always focusing on your life statement and questioning if this activity will add to or detract from your Legacy. Building your Legacy, may involve changing your mind-set, adjusting your behaviour, some form of character development, new education or training, working with a mentor and so on. Only by changing the way you live, will you be able to create the Legacy you want to leave. The beauty with determining your legacy is that it is possible to achieve it within your life time. A number of great men did not live long enough to realise their life statement. Dr. Martin Luther King and President John F. Kennedy did not live to see the success of the civil rights movement in which both played an instrumental role. If your truly committed to the cause and are willing to take massive action all your goal can be realised in a short time span. There has not been a better time in history to realise significant changes in peoples life but it require that you take action.