How to Live a Legacy-Driven Life
Dear Friend:
As you write your life's story or legacy ONE DECISION AT A TIME, WILL IT BE A STORY WORTH REPEATING?
You rarely hear people talk about LEGACY in America... Thus, many never got to think about their legacy until it is too late because at that point they can't take any of the poor decisions back. YET, those that think in terms of LEGACY bring extraordinary clarity and context to their DECISION MAKING PROCESS. In short, we are all here temporarily and have a very limited time to write our legacies 1 decision at a time!
Indeed, even a single irredeemable poor or bad decision can impact your entire life story or legacy. Success in life and in writing an amazing life story or legacy is tough because MOST OF US KNOW BETTER THAN WE DO (i.e., knowing the intelligent thing to do in no way ensures that we'll do what's intelligent and knowing the right thing to do does not guarantee anything.) You often hear parents tell their kids: "Don't do what I do, do what I ask you to do"!
For instance, no one in his/her right mind would plan to be buried under a mountain of credit card debt. Yet, those that find themselves in such a predicament did bury themselves there ONE PURCHASING DECISION AT A TIME!
Please allow me to ask you a few questions...
QUESTION#1
Will your legacy (i.e., your fingerprints on the future) be worth being celebrated by your loved ones or society at large beyond your FUNERAL?
QUESTION#2
What will your life story and legacy be (i.e., what will you be remembered for)?
QUESTION#3
Does it even matter? (i.e., Will you simply be eulogized at a Funeral and simply forgotten by most afterwards? or Should you even be remembered for anything?)
The answer is YES whether you a Believer (i.e., believe in God) or an Atheist (i.e., don't believe in God or a higher being) or an Agnostic (i.e., someone who neither believes nor disbelieves in a higher being) because EVEN if you don't believe for society at large, you more likely than not have some amazing friends and loved ones who actually do care about your legacy.
IN OTHER WORDS - Your Legacy Does Matter. You were born and will have lived for a reason whether you realize it or not. And if you're a FAITH-driven believer, it is often much easier to make the right decisions in the end in my opinion, but one can still make great decisions if one pauses for a few minutes to think of the GENERATIONAL OUTCOMES that are implicated in one's legacy that can affect one's loved ones and friends generationally.
QUESTION#4
SO, what is THE BEST WAY to live a LEGACY-AWARE LIFE (i.e., start putting your fingerprints on the World)?
Well, it starts with each daily decision that you make... Most of us have no problem convincing ourselves to make the WRONG (LEGACY-ROBBING) DECISIONS... it is often the BEST (LEGACY-BUILDING) DECISIONS that seem to elude far too many us...
Please ensure that you are not simply confirming your own biased/subjective view of what's best for you or your legacy? (i.e., don't be a victim of confirmation bias). The latter requires that you are in the COMPANY OF GREAT ADVISOR-FRIENDS.
QUESTION#5
Have you ever noticed how you notice other people's mistakes much more readily than your own mistakes?
Well, when you are around GREAT-ADVISOR friends, they will also notice your poor/biased decisions in a loving or empathetic way as to prevent you from being trapped by your own biases and prevent you form making LEGACY-ROBBING DECISIONS.
QUESTION#6
What would you have done differently if you had a chance to rewrite your life story (legacy) at the last minute in a way that would have you remembered differently?
What would you have done differently?
Please answer the above QUESTIONS AS HONESLTY AS POSSIBLE and then IMAGINE yourself taking your last breath and wishing you could have RE-WRITTEN YOUR LIFE STORY (i.e., LEGACY).
WHAT would you have DONE FREE OF CHARGE to give back to the World or your loved ones and ENJOY IT FULLY had you not had any bills to pay?
POTENTIALLY CHALLENGING DECISION MAKING ENVIRONMENTS
1) Unanticipated/Surprise decision-making environments (e.g., a job offer comes along and you have less than a week to make a decision);
2) Complicated decision-making environments that can lead to poor decisions as a result of POOR PLANNING and lack of anticipation or foresightedness,
3) Revenge Opportunities -- Remember the story of Joseph who was sold into servitude by his brothers and become a leader in the country in which they were migrants, and despite having an opportunity to exercise revenge, Joseph exercised love for them and their people. The key to establishing LEGACIES is to do or refrain from doing things that would have been reasonable for a normal or reasonable person to do under a circumstance.
Consequentially, whenever you find yourself in such challenging decision making environments, PAUSE for a moment and TAP INTO YOUR LIFE-LINES or GREAT ADVISOR-FRIENDS and allow yourself to at least pause for a few minutes to think of the GENERATIONAL OUTCOMES that are implicated in your legacy that can affect your loved ones and friends generationally.
In such stressful or challenging moments, we can't always know WHAT or WHO hands in the balance of the decisions that we make. Thus, we must at least remember that EVEN OUR MOST PRIVATE DECISIONS are likely to have VERY PUBLIC OUTCOMES. Such decisions often don't stay private and will often impact some other persons in one way or another.
So, my friend, I know you understand my message if you reach this paragraph. I crafted it specifically with you in mind. I know you want to write a life story (legacy) that is worth telling. I am convinced that almost no one would have chosen not to. However, it is challenging to so accomplish. This article is directed not only to you but also to me and humanity at large. I write it because PART OF MY LEGACY is to tell PEOPLE things that OTHERS may not be willing to share with them. It is to do so from a place of LOVE and those are the very things that I utter to myself DAILY. I would have been pleased to live in a World that had no hunger, humiliations, poverty, hatred, and depression.
DECIDE WISELY, MY FRIENDS! No man/woman is an island! You will need some GREAT LIFE-LINE ADVISOR-FRIENDS placed in your life by GOD or the UNIVERSE (if you're not a believer). USE THEM WISELY in your PREDECISION PAUSES, as I assure you that such moments will have been LEGACY-DEFINING ONES!
Cheers,
Dr. Pete Lorins, Chief Editor of LorinsPOST.com. This article was sponsored by MultiServiceBusinessNetwork.com