Leave a Legacy, Not an Inheritance
Every move we make and don’t make has generational impact.
“In our every deliberation, we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations.” — From the Great Law of the Iroquois Confederacy.
What do these distinguished and infamous people…all have in common?
- Martin Luther King
- Adolf Hitler
- Mother Theresa
- Osama bin Laden
- Harriet Tubman
- Josef Stalin
- Mr Rogers
They have each made an impression.
They have all made a significant dent in the world.
They have in their own unique way left a lasting legacy.
As a result, what they choose to do with their lives echoes in eternity.
A great legacy is the memory of a great name and the inheritance of a great example…while a bad legacy is the memory of a bad name and the inheritance of a bad example.
It’s non-negotiable…
You will leave a legacy.
The question is not whether you’ll leave one…but what legacy, what memory, what mark, name and example will your family, society and history inherit?
More specifically…how will the life you lived echo in eternity?
LEGACY = INHERITANCE
An inheritance or estate tax is a one-time tax paid by a person who inherits money or property or a levy on the estate of a person who has died.
But what about the other type inheritance tax…the one that’s placed on a life poorly lived?
I’m talking about the heavy, ongoing, never-ending inheritance tax that is paid by family, society and future inhabitants?
“All good men and women must take responsibility to create legacies that will take the next generation to a level we could only imagine.” — Jim Rohn
HOW TO LEAVE A LEGACY WORTH INHERITING
In the spirit of contribution, I offer you ten immutable reasons as to why you need to focus on your legacy, and how what you do now will echo in eternity.
These reasons are as immutable as Newton’s laws, and come, like his, from beyond our ken.
I trust they will inspire you to think deeply about your life, your purpose, the examples you set and the message your life represents.
1. Your Legacy Calls for Answers to Crucial Questions
You can dodge the questions for quite some time.
- Why am I here?
- What do I want to do with my life?
- Why do I exist?
- How can I contribute?
- What will I leave behind?
- What example am I setting for my family?
- How will I be remembered?
But, eventually, we all reach our own philosophical puberty and realize that these types of questions call for…in fact, they demand answers.
“Carve your name on hearts, not tombstones. A legacy is etched into the minds of others and the stories they share about you.” — Shannon L. Alder
2. Your Legacy Highlights the Connection Between Means and Ends
Your legacy comprises two things, ends and means. And by defining your legacy, you know how to act so as to avoid any conflict between what you want, and how you go about attaining it.
In other words, Style, courtesy, honesty, integrity and respect make for an ideal legacy, whereas Lying, cheating, stealing and bullying make for an embarrassing legacy.
The way you live your life, the means, has an effect on how you are remembered, which of course is the ends.
How can the ends of a person’s efforts be respected if the means make them want to blush in embarrassment?
“If you would not be forgotten as soon as you are dead, either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.” — Benjamin Franklin
3. Your Legacy Brings Clarity to Daily Activities
Once you decide on your legacy, you experience a number of built in by-products, one of the more important is that it brings clarity to your daily activities.
The reason is actually very simple, as your legacy impresses upon you the necessity for clearly defined goals, fulfillment of your responsibilities, honoring your intentions following through on both promises and commitments.
“Who are we, if not measured by our impact on others? That’s who we are. We’re not who we say we are, we’re not who we want to be — we are the sum of the influence and impact that we have, in our lives, on others.” — Carl Sagan
4. Your Legacy Sets an Example for Future Generations
Your legacy is a form of symbolic immortality, so take the long view and consider the impact of your legacy and how it will impact the next seven generations.
Your life and example will continue in some way to participate in the lives of others when we are gone.
Just what will that participation be?
Look at your life as a gift, an inspiration to future generations.
Let your character, your values, and the example of a life well-lived be your family heirloom, a positive and powerful inheritance for future generations.
Set an inspiring example that future generations will be proud of and more importantly want to protect and emulate, rather than be ashamed of.
“Your story is the greatest legacy that you will leave to your friends. It’s the longest-lasting legacy you will leave to your heirs.” — Steve Saint
5. Your Legacy Demonstrates Your Contribution to Society
The ultimate test of the impact of an individual or group of individuals is twofold:
#1: Whether the world they left is qualitatively different from that which they were born into…
#2: What contribution they made to that change.
By focusing on your legacy, you are focusing on doing worthwhile acts, and we should all do something virtuous with the time that we have.
“Carve your name on hearts, not tombstones. A legacy is etched into the minds of others and the stories they share about you.” — Shannon L. Alder
6. Your Legacy Gives Meaning to Your Life
We all have to give our lives meaning. We must find or create reasons for living and by focusing on making positive, lasting contributions, you are building a legacy of value.
To arrive at the point that you think seriously about your legacy, it demonstrates a level of reality and commitment that represents an eternity to follow.
“The great use of life is to spend it for something that will outlast it.” — William James
7. Your Legacy Strengthens Your Faith
If you are going to leave a strong, nurturing, godly legacy, you must pass on to succeeding generations both faith and love.
Do you have a faith that is worth handing down?
If you hand down your faith the way you are living it now, will your children be the better for having received and accepted your lifestyle?
By focusing on your legacy, you automatically begin to strengthen your faith.
“The greatest legacy one can pass on to one’s children and grandchildren is not money or other material things accumulated in one’s life, but rather a legacy of character and faith.” — Billy Graham
8. Your Legacy Provides an Intellectual and Emotional Challenge
There’s nothing quite like a good old fashioned challenge and few conversations will surpass the importance of your legacy.
It challenges you to retire into yourself and think deeply about your life.
When you focus on your legacy, you begin to go day-by-day seeing the world as your classroom and paying very strict attention to both contribution and associated behavior.
“A man cannot leave a better legacy to the world than a well-educated family.” — Thomas Scott
9. Your Legacy Empowers Decision Making
The wonderful part of considering your legacy is the clarity it brings to daily decisions.
Each decision moves you closer to or further from your legacy, therefore, your legacy offers advice on how to live in the present in order to be remembered well when you are gone.
“What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others.” — Pericles
10. Your Legacy Puts and Exclamation Mark on Your Life
Your legacy is a self-portrait, it’s the signature of your life’s presence, so make this life of yours into a work of art.
We’re all playing a high stakes game of one and done, but once is enough if we do it right.
By building your life on a foundation of class, dignity, and style, you place an exclamation, rather than a question mark, after it!
Whether today, next month, or years from now, your legacy will one day be set in stone.
- What will we say you did?
- Who will we say you were?
- What difference will we celebrate?
- What contribution will we point to?
Your legacy is what you make it and it will echo in eternity…therefore, live your life as if…
Gary Ryan Blair is creator of the 100 Day Challenge…a radical approach to goal achievement that shows people how to achieve 10X size goals by applying the methods and best practices of exponential growth.
