Legacy

Happy Friday Friends!

I hope and trust this post finds you all having a great day as a glorious new day begins to dawn in my Sweet Home Alabama! :)

What will your legacy be? Have you ever thought about it? Perhaps most importantly, do you realize that you ARE leaving a legacy?

Merriam-webster.com defines legacy as follows:
1. a gift by will especially of money or other personal property
2. something transmitted by or received from an ancestor or predecessor or from the past

Now, to be clear, the type of legacy I am referring to this morning is the 2nd definition. John C. Maxwell seems to address the 1st definition in his book, The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership. He says, "Too often, leaders put their energy into organizations, buildings, systems and other lifeless objects. But only people live on after we are gone. Everything else is temporary." Yes, the type of legacy I am talking about this morning is what is left in the hearts, minds and souls of those whose lives we have touched when we are gone.

As I am sure you are very well aware, I am very fond of challenging myself and others with "What Will Your Influence Be...?" It is based on a deeply held conviction that every one of our lives influences the lives of every other person we come into contact with on a daily basis. And research backs this belief! In a blog, John C. Maxwell sited research that found that the most introverted person will influence more than 10,000 people in their lifetime. A couple of years ago I found new research that showed that the average person will influence more than 80,000 people during theirs. So, Sweet Friends, it is not a question of whether or not you are influencing others...the question is, what will your influence be?

And why do I start here? Because it is our daily disciplines, the things we do day after day that determines the direction of our lives and, ultimately, our legacies. I know, we really don't want to hear that! We all want to win, have success - however you want to define those terms in your life. We all want the "secret." We want the quick and easy. There is no silver bullet; it is the choices we make every single day, day after day, that ultimately will decide the quality, the depth and the breadth of our lives. And this then forms our legacy.

Have you ever really thought about your legacy? What are you passing down to the generations that will follow us? So often when we think of legacies we think of championship sports figures or organizations, of politicians or similar. And often, what we are defining as a legacy, is actually a result, an outcome, of what living their legacy actually brought. Is Michael Jordan's legacy the 6 championships he won? I would argue his legacy is a singular focus and a relentless commitment to being the best he was capable of becoming. Is Kobe Bryant's legacy the 5 championships he won? I would argue it was his belief that we all have a purpose and that we are called to do everything we can to become the best we are capable of becoming within that purpose, just as he did. How about Tom Brady? Is it the Super Bowl championships or MVP awards? If you read articles about him everyone talks about two things - 1) He genuinely values and appreciates everyone, whether a teammate or a small child, and 2) His relentless pursuit of becoming the best he is capable of becoming. In looking at the results, we fail to see what they are really leaving us.

When we talk about legacies we often talk about grandiose things, the purposes we were created for, and rightfully so. I am going to share several things here in a moment that talk about our purposes, however before I do I want to share a thought that hit me literally as soon as I woke up this morning. We are actually leaving legacies in several different areas. What is your spiritual legacy? What is your emotional legacy? What is your attitudinal legacy? You get the point. Let me ask you a question; how did your parents handle a situation when something went wrong? Right now you can see it, you can feel it. It is a situational legacy. Are we leaving a legacy of faith or fear? Are we leaving a legacy of love or hate? Are we leaving a legacy of Light or darkness? Are we leaving a legacy of encouragement or dread? Each and every one of us will choose...

What got me thinking about legacy this week is an email I received from Jon Gordon. I want to share a brief excerpt from it.
"The next time you are facing a difficult situation remember that there is more than what is in front of you. There is a challenge, a lesson, and a plan.

Emerson said, "The wise man in the storm prays to God, not for safety from danger, but deliverance from fear."

Don't let fear get in the way of the life that is meant for you. Einstein, Beethoven, Muhammad Ali, and Helen Keller show us that anything is possible. They are real people who overcame their obstacles and doubters and discovered their greatness.

Trust that there is a plan for you and let the possibilities unfold. In the process you will discover the great things you were born to do. You don't have to push. Just trust and your destiny will meet you when the time is right."

To hopefully equip us, I also want to share several excerpts from an article that appeared on forbes.com on Feburary 20, 2014. The article is titled 5 Ways A Legacy-Driven Mindset Will Define Your Leadership and it was written by Glenn Llopis.

"To help guide your sustainable success as a leader and keep you moving in the right direction, here are five stages of legacy building that will define the significance of your leadership:

1. Identity and Values
You must know and be extremely connected with who you are and what you represent as an individual and a leader. What are the values and beliefs that influence how you lead, your behavior and your attitude? Do others know the real you and what you represent as a leader for the betterment of a healthier whole?

2. Guiding Foundational Principles
Once you have been able to solidify your identity and set of values, how do they translate into a set of guiding principles that other can begin to expect from you? These principles should represent your enduring ideas and ideals and set the tone for your performance expectations as a leader.

3. Courage and Risk-Taking
As a leader, you must trust your gut and be courageous enough to take calculated risks. At times, this requires you to trust yourself enough to challenge the status quo and push the envelope of conventional wisdom - even if this means putting your reputation on the line.

4. Genuine Care to Advance Others
Understanding what inspires happiness in those who support your leadership is critically important. Throughout your leadership journey you must continue to learn how to better serve others and genuinely support their career advancement and overall engagement at work.

5. Responsibility and Accountability
Legacy building is about being mindful of the opportunity and the responsibility you have to serve your own advancement by serving others. Only you can set the tone and define the performance standards that you expect for yourself and from others. As such, you must be incredibly self-disciplined to hold yourself accountable to consistently deliver to those standards every day, every step of the way.

And finally, I want to share a poem by Haki Aitoro titled, What Will Be Your Legacy?

Do I wander through life aimlessly?
Wild, reckless, inconsiderate
Unmindful of the consequences of my behavior
Do I run wild in a savage stupor?
Pugnacious, belligerent, impolite
Unconscious of the altitude of my ignorance
Unaware of the latitude of my negligence
Carefree
Leaving a trail of scarcity
Along a path of regret
Leaving years of psychological scars
In the repressed minds of distressed adults
In the misguided souls of troubled youths

Will I leave disillusioned children?
Angry and confused
Shameful and misguided
Lost and astray
Crying for direction
Weeping for guidance
Longing for unconditional love
Grieving for sound judgement
For I taught them not a lifetime of wisdom
For wisdom was not important
For I offered them not sound advice
For I never took life seriously
For I taught them not discipline
For I was reckless and immature
For I showed them naught but a drop of love
For my selfishness knew no bounds

Will I leave disappointed partners?
Bitter and frustrated
Troubled and wounded
Disturbed and injured
Wishing for sincerity
Longing for honesty
Praying for fidelity
Yearning for faithfulness
For I killed their trust
Due to my shamelessness
For I eradicated their hope
Due to my disrespect
For I damaged their faith
Due to my infidelity
For I destroyed their confidence
Due to my deception
For I killed their self development
Due to my ignorance

Will I leave appalled individuals?
Disgusted and revolted
Unconcerned and apathetic
Sarcastic and scornful
Mocking my ignorance
Sickened at my negligence
Horrified at my irresponsibility
Deriding my financial intelligence
Appalled at my selfishness
For I disrespected many good folk
In the name of humor
Mere mockery in fact
For I abused much kindness
In the name of friendship
Sheer exploitation to be precise
For I never listened to others
In the name of intelligence
Simply arrogance no doubt
For I spoke ill of people
In the name wisdom
Purely foolishness indeed
For I was impatient with the most enduring
In the name of progress
Clearly mental commotion
For I was unforgiving with the most compassionate
In the name of truth
Conceitedness in fact

Fatherhood was not my forte
For I struggled to maintain my youth
Relationship was not my aspiration
For I disliked commitment
Friendship was not my goal
For I detested disagreement
Education was not my focus
For I found it a bore
Investment was not my desire
For I cherished the consumer lifestyle
Responsibility was not my wish
For I cherished excitement and frolic
Discipline was not my want
For I enjoyed ease
Devotion was not my focal point
For I choose carelessness

So what will you leave?
A story of inspiration through your achievements
A fable of love through your affection
An account of devotion through your loyalty
A description of success through your diligence
A portrayal of courage through your chosen path
A depiction of wisdom through your experiences
An illustration of happiness through your humor
An image of resilience through your adversity
A report of wealth through your acumen
A tale of nobility through your actions
A myth of grandeur through your life of contribution

Let us all be remembered
For the lives we touched
For the people helped
For the wisdom we shared
For the stories we told
For the laughter we initiated
For the love we gave
For the affection we showed
For the good role models we were
For the communities we inspired
For the youth we guided
For the hungry we feed
For the needy we assisted
For the success we created
For the risk we took
For the world we changed
Let us write down our stories
Let us tell our experiences
Let us record our tales
Let us share our struggles
For our children
For our grandchildren
For generations to see
For generations to hear
As a source of hope
As a source of wisdom
As a source of guidance
As an example of our legacy
So what will you leave?

Please don't hesitate to contact me if there is ever anything I can do for you or your family. I will always help you any way I can. You can reach me at kevin@whatwillyourinfluencebe.com.

Have a great day, a wonderful weekend, please cherish your precious families and please stay safe.

Kev