How do you achieve one?
Is it Oscar season already? — no, not really. What I am getting at is my translation of the term “Legacy”.
When you look online for the definition and meaning here is what you find:
A legacy is a part of a person that lives on long after that person has passed. A legacy also leaves behind the story of a person so they are not forgotten. Legacies are important pathways of the future to follow or to be guided by in order to make better decisions in life.
The question that these definitions don’t answer is: “How do you get a legacy?”
To me, the best analogy is a lifetime achievement award.
If you think about it, the part that we leave behind, especially if it is something tangible, should be meaningful, lasting, and beneficial.
In my case, I am working every day to leave as big a portfolio of assets that provide passive income to my wife and then my daughter and then her kids and hopefully her kid’s kids.
The “part” that’s left behind, in this case, is the foundation of income that allows security and maybe comfort.
The other part of the legacy or lifetime achievement award is the story. That’s harder to accomplish if you ask me.
The story is another way of saying: How did he or she do it?
Is it just a matter of being at the right place at the right time and in the right circumstances? And if so, would that be bad or wrong?
Here is an example I have heard so many times on podcasts and videos that I am pretty sick of it:
A person grows up in a household of contractors and real estate agents. The grandfather has been a contractor for many years and one of his sons, the guest’s father decided to get into real estate, but without getting dirty every day. So he became an agent.
The guest, now in his mid-twenties grew up being taken to building sites, open houses, and staging parties. While in high school he helped carrying furniture in and out of houses, asked questions about prices and repairs, etc.
The family did well during these first 20 years of his life and he always got great gifts- mainly money he put into a savings account — because grandpa said so.
In 2008, just around the time he started college, the financial crisis hit and while grandpa had recently retired, dad was running around like crazy buying houses left and right. He had made a small fortune selling houses the years prior to the crisis and now saw opportunity at every corner.
The 25-year-old podcast guest describes that he quickly understood that this is a chance of a lifetime and used the funds in his savings account, joined his dad in some deals and now, at 35 has a portfolio of 55 doors, never finished college, makes great passive income and actually wrote a book about his path to financial freedom.
This is a nice circumstance but does it create a legacy or deserve a lifetime achievement award?
I say “No”!
The story is very rare, unique, not repeatable, and most people can’t learn anything from it. More important, it is totally dependent on the situation, the setup, the external development of a global financial crisis, etc.
To be a legacy, both in the result of the assets and passive income and a foundation for generations to come as well as the story of the how it needs to be earned and not given to a person.
That story is a combination of the result that makes the difference and determines if an award is deserved.
That is what a true legacy is.
- You treat people the right way.
- You go out of your way to help.
- You help, even if it does not give income or profit. You are friendly, caring and supportive.
- You treat everybody equally, with respect, and with best intentions, regardless of their heritage
- You are selfless but determined with clear goals in mind that you pursue even when encountering obstacles
- You are a lifelong student and learner to depend on your understanding and share it with anybody interested to hear and see.
- You aren’t selfish and secluded but outgoing and willing to answer questions, be available, and support where you can.
That’s what builds the legacy and earns you the lifetime achievement award.
Some people think a legacy is what we develop because of our accomplishments.
I like to change that view and perspective into:
A legacy is what you earn. It’s a combination of the lasting accomplishments and the story that describes how you were able to accomplish them.
Ask yourself what you have done today, to earn your legacy.
For an introduction on how to take that first step towards earning your own lifetime achievement, Download your free mindset manual