Working for Positive Legacy
Work perceived as a mere routine would deem no meaning. Instilling value into it compels a huge difference.
I just drop my 4 years old daughter off at school. After kissing her forehead, she asked for a simple hug before I left. I gave her my warmest and whispered a thing that made her chuckled. “Make your friends laugh,” I said. Not sure why I said that. It might be because I know her so well that she is so smiley and loving.
At the long queue before a traffic light towards the main road to the office, my mind wandered erratically while listening to Kunto Aji’s Rehat. “.. yang dicari hilang, yang dikejar lari...” What is being looked for, gone. What is being chased, run. That is what the lyrics say. Concise words yet tacitly lurking for a bigger meaning.
I did not know where the wander would end, I suppose. A peculiar — or divine on that matter — question suddenly surfaced. What do I work for? What am I looking for in my job?
Certainly not money, no. As naive as it may sound, never I sign a job for rupiah in my account. Not so much on title and appreciation either. Title tells nothing about myself. How I treat people does. Being appreciated is always a good thing but I will be tiring myself looking for merely appreciation. A bonus it is. Not more.
Then, what?
Couple weeks ago, I got a call from a former colleague. He wished me a happy birthday. Coming from an unlikeliest friend to call, it came as a surprise of course. We chatted briefly. I asked what he was working on. “The same thing before you left,” he said. “But the audience is getting bigger right now.” “Good to hear bro,” I replied.
“Oh btw, we still heavily use the product you developed,” he closed. “Oh, do you?”
That put a terse smile on my face, I would not lie. That is soothingly good feeling knowing what I built is still useful. Knowing the product is still giving impact. Knowing I have left positive legacy there.
The more I think about it, the more I am certain that legacy is more about mindset. To think we are working for a greater good not sheerly for the sake of making a living, earning income, or nurturing career. I am not saying either of those is less good or bad. All I am saying is for us to go beyond usual work traits.
Having that mindset perpetuates us to work on something that truly matters; be it for the company, people around us, customers, society, or even the country in general. Work on something that when we look back, we feel proud and happy. Not regret and dismay.
I guess that is how we measure legacy. Only us can judge by clean mind and heart. Simple but powerful, isn’t it?
Never think legacy is only physical or something bare eyes can see. It can be manifested as anything we have worked on: relationship, culture, motivation, or ideas.
Our rapport with a colleague can be counted as one too. That we have left positive impression of our personality or professional reliability on others. So that people willingly vouch for us and highly value our competence.
Another case is a solid and productive team. A team that is autonomously able to working on certain objective with enthusiasm and mutual respect. They are not dependent to us but we can always rely on them. We simply can not take that for granted. A solid team is built not given.
Every works is legacy-bound. Not a single work in the world that is not entitled to legacy. Whether the legacy is good or bad, big or small, life changing or time wasting, it is us who can decide. Only us.
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The thing about legacy is we don’t need to seek credits or acknowledgement from others. If we look for one, it could mean we are doing the work half-hearted. Does not mean credit is not important. Like I previously said, it is just a bonus. Hence if we get one, that is great. Use it as fuel to deliver even better. If we get none, no problem. It is not something we are after anyway.
The most relevant credit should be coming from ourselves. How we appreciate what we have done, built, delivered, given, contributed, or shown. No one can take our legacy away. That is absolute. So, make sure our presence is felt and footprints are everywhere.
It does not matter where we work or what we are working on, leaving a positive legacy should and must be our objective. Always striving for greatness no matter what. Only by giving our best and fully investing our mind in whatever we do, we will be able to deliver great things and leave positive impact. The one we could proudly put into our bags. The one being invaluable stock to inspire us to walk far in career and life as a whole.
Make our time count, every day passes without us doing meaningful thing at work is a missing opportunity. More often than not, we have to be hard on ourselves so we can reflect and bounce back higher.
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That evening after getting back from the office, my daughter greeted me by the door. Turns out, she had been waiting for me. I bent a bit as she was hoping to tell me something.
“Dad, I dit it. I made Inara (her friend’s name) laugh.”
“That is nice, dear. Was she happy?”
“Yes. Today, I always played with her. We are close now.”
That was the nicest thing I heard all day to be honest and I am super proud of her. Always try to leave a positive legacy the best we could as a simple laughter can lead to a timeless friendship.
After all, that is what matters, right?
