What Will Be Your Legacy?

Did you watch the Oscars on Sunday night?  Me too.

One of the most touching parts of the show seems to be the clips of people that have passed over the last year.

The strategically heart-string-tugging lines from movies that they starred in, or their tears accepting the award they've worked their whole lives to earn.

It gets me every time.  This year, especially with Peter Falk.

You'll remember him as the Grandfather from Princess Bride (at least, that's how I remember him).  How his love for his Grandson translated so perfectly in the three words: "As you wish."  That one phrase showed us all that true love is not just between you and your partner, but can run just as deeply in other relationships as well.

His legacy is clear in my mind.  His expert portrayal of grandfatherly love will forever live in my mind and bring me the warm n' fuzzies.

This got me thinking about legacies.

The people featured in the memoriam are known to many people across the world.

That legacy is why most people set out to act in the first place.  They want to be remembered, loved, and revered.

But I don't believe that a legacy has to live only in memory.

I believe a legacy can brighten the future.

Legacy is defined in Merriam-Webster's dictionary as "something transmitted by or received from an ancestor or predecessor from the past."  We commonly hear about legacies "living on" today when they continue to affect those in the present.

Given these terms, a legacy is not something that we have complete control over.  After all, we cannot control how other people perceive us, we can only control our own actions.

So how can we leave the world with a legacy of our choosing?

What we must do is inspire through our own actions.  If you go back through time and analyze the most influential legacies, you'll see that they all inspired action through their own action.  They didn't just think about doing things, or tell others to do them; they went out and got things done on their own!

These legacies began while they were still alive, except I'm sure they weren't thinking about them in those terms.  Their ACCOMPLISHED GOALS became their legacy, which lives on today.

Have you ever thought of goals in terms of your legacy?

Well I'd like to challenge you to do so now.

Having a broad picture of the effect you want to have on the world will help you pinpoint the actions necessary to achieve it.

What do you want to leave for the world, that will affect it when you are gone?

Whether this is for your children, for the community, or for your partner, what effect do you want your living memory to have on people?  What actions of theirs do you hope to inform?

How do you want to change the future?

Thinking of it in this fashion can be a bit overwhelming, so I want to break it up into steps so that it won't be.  Pull out your Strong Inside Out notebooks, boys and girls!  It's time to get those legacies on paper!

This is supposed to be a pretty general question.

When you're gone, do you want to be remembered as courageous?  Caring? Passionate?  Daring?  Encouraging?  Helpful?

How do you want people that never knew you to say that you helped them?  In what way?  What would they be doing in order to feel this way?

Or do you want to affect those immediately around you?  How can your legacy help them to live a better life?

How do you want to inspire change in the world?

Often times, when thinking this big, people start getting embarrassed.  They start thinking, "Who am I to have dreams like this?  I'm nobody."

I'm here to tell you that nothing you think up is too grand.  Who's to say you won't be the first to accomplish such a fete?  Doubt is the killer of dreams, friends.  Tell her to take a backseat in this exercise... and maybe for the rest of your life...

This doesn't have to be a world-changing cause, as long as you change one person's world.  For that one person, YOU are world-changing.

For instance, instead of wanting to leave a legacy that inspires people to help starving children in the world, you may relate more with leaving a legacy with your children of how you were kind, accepting, and open to others, which will inspire them to do the same.

Your legacy doesn't have to be a grandiose concept: just focus on what matters to you.

Write down everything you think of that has an exciting effect on you.  Some possible answers may be:

I want people to remember how patient I was with my children, which will in turn inspire them to be patient.

I want my industry to remember my presence as ground-breaking.  I want to change the face of [insert your field here].

I want to lower the rates of suicide by showing people that it is possible to overcome crippling depression (that's mine, in case you were wondering ;)).

This is entirely personal, so don't judge your answers!  You shouldn't have any one kind of response to this exercise, so no two people's answers will be the same.  Get the should-do's out of your head and ponder what you really want.

What would have to occur in order to create the impact you wish to have?

If you want to inspire your children or loved ones to be healthy, that means you yourself would need to be healthy in order to set the example.

If you want to change the way people think about gay marriage, what event would have to take place in order for you to affect someone's perspective?  A protest?  An informational email?  An article or letter written by you, personally?

If you want to revolutionize the market that you're in, what kind of event would have that effect?  What event would cause your market to shift the way they currently do business?  A business redesign?  A different technique to approach sales or marketing?

Think about others that have inspired similar change in the world or have inspired you directly.  What did they do?  What events touched you?

This is one to brainstorm for a while, as there are probably a multitude of different answers.  Let yourself roll with it- the more ideas, the better!

This is the scary part, as thinking about standing up against the status quo is antagonistic to human nature (which just wants to get along).

But what if your actions can help people get along better than they currently do now?

Someone has to stand up against what isn't working, and show everyone else another way.  This is how we change for the better.

What actions would it take to create your legacy?

What do you need to do in order to create that event that we just brainstormed, or begin your journey toward it?

If you, for example, wished to inspire health in your family, how could you begin to get healthy so you can start setting that example?

Possible actionable steps would include:

Begin eating a whole foods diet, rich with different types of vegetables, fruits and fish.  This could demystify foods that may otherwise be scary or intimidating for people that don't already have them in their routine.

Begin working out 4x/week, and begin talking about how it positively affects you with those you care about.  Showing them by example is a great way to teach without pushing too hard.

The simple act of carrying a water bottle with you at all times will become ingrained in people's memories.  When asked, feel free to explain the benefits of drinking 10 cups of water a day!

Those people that left legacies that you admire: what actions did they take that affect you today?  What actions can you take to inspire people in the same way?

List anything and everything that comes to mind.  Don't worry: you don't have to do ALL of them!  This list will serve as a base to draw from.  Some actions will appeal to you more than others, and some will inspire other actions in you.

Stick with the steps that really speak to you.  Start taking them today.

What's the point in waiting?  The sooner you start leaving your legacy, the stronger it will be by the time you're gone.

I realize this sounds a bit morbid, but it's also quite a beautiful concept.

This idea that you can help the world even after you have gone is almost a relief: the work will keep working even after you can't be there to work on it.

I used to think that I wanted to be one of those stars in the Academy Awards memoriam.

But I realized that I don't need to be anyone's memory.

I want to show people their future.

I want to inspire people to get up and change.  Empower you to fight through your obstacles.

I no longer want to be that sad story of a troubled star that eventually got eaten up by the industry, but did some good work while I was in it.

I want to be that story of the shooting star that, against all odds, broke through the haze, shot through the darkness, and made the world a brighter place.

My legacy will not be a selfish one.

My legacy will be a world made better while I'm here, and a world left better when I'm gone.

Who am I to have these grand aspirations?

I am just like you.  Like you, I have the potential to achieve great things, and I am daring to do it all.  Now I dare you to do the same.

We all have the power to completely change the world.

Dare to share!  In the comments below, tell me what you are aiming to achieve in this lifetime and beyond.  If you're scared, that means you're onto something worth doing.  Post it.  Make it real.

I want to take a quick second to thank everyone who has filled out the survey from Monday's post, My Lofty Ambitions and Ask The Reader.  I have received some truly priceless feedback to point Strong Inside Out in the right direction.  If you didn't fill it out, the survey will still be open until the end of the week (Monday morning, PST), so head over to the post and scan to the bottom of the page to fill it out!  Thank you!

By the way, did you know that I'm on Pinterest?  Well, I am!  You can follow me there for near-daily inspiration, workout ideas, and random tidbits of happiness (such as a chart of Darth Vader Yoga).  Check out my boards by clicking here!

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Photo 1 by prottoy hassan on Unsplash
Photo 2 (adapted) by GREG KANTRA on Unsplash
Photo 3 by Remi Yuan on Unsplash