Our Legacy – A Tool for Personal Development

“It is well to give when asked, but it is better to give unasked, through understanding”

- Kahlil Gibran, 1883-1931, Lebanese Poet and Novelist“

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There’s an old saying that goes, “If you don’t know where you’re going, any path will take you there.” The same is true of personal development. When you start heading down the path of personal development you begin to grow — to evolve into something more than when you began your journey. But figuring out just what path to take when you set out is a major challenge in and of itself.

Ponder this question: “What kind of legacy do I want to leave behind?” In this case, a legacy is the achievement(s) we are known for when we have gone. Having a legacy focuses our attention on the whole picture and purpose of our life. It is good to have career, financial, and relationship goals, but often times we tend to ignore the other aspects of our lives in favor of pursuing these particular goals. This imbalance inevitably slows down your growth and frequently results in all sorts of health issues.

True personal development requires a holistic approach, one by which you have painted the ideal picture of your life and developed a goal structure that supports the achievement of your life legacy. One fantastic benefit to having a legacy is it can help you to create and organize your goals. It provides you with the final destination toward which all your efforts and activities in life are directed. Having a well thought-out legacy offers so much more. As with any other project, there will always be distractions while you are working on yourself. You have habits to overcome, patterns of procrastination, people who need your time and energy, and so forth. The power of a legacy is that it can be a very strong tool to conquer your habits, steer clear of the procrastination, and meet the needs of those around you without getting diverted.

The reason why these diversions can have such a pull on us is we do not have any particular force guiding us in a direction we truly want to go. When your day is built around your legacy, these distractions become impotent. The short-term pleasures that procrastination offers often pale in comparison to the potential of your legacy. As long as you stick to your goals, you are always one day closer to realizing your dream.

The extent to which your legacy will help you to create and organize your goals and boost your motivation depends upon how much detail you give to the picture of your legacy. This picture of your legacy often develops over a long period of time, but you can get a decent handle on it by thinking about the following lifestyle components:

1) People. What kind of people do you value, feel comfortable with, get excited about spending time with?
2) Passion. What is it about life that enlivens you and fills you with energy?
3) Purpose. What is it that brings meaning to your life or gives you a sense of fulfillment?
4) Responsibilities. What kinds of responsibilities are you comfortable handling in your life, whether they be personal, professional, or spiritual?
5) Career. What manifestation of your abilities, purpose, and passion would best fulfill your career needs?
6) Values. Your values are your needs and desires, ranging from your most basic physical needs to those that dictate your relationships with your friends, loved ones, co-workers, and the environment at large. What are your values?

This list is certainly not exhaustive, but it is a good start. Not only will it help you to fill out the picture of your legacy and career goals, but the relationships you develop with yourself and your loved ones become clearer.

This picture you are developing is your life’s legacy. I recommend, just as with any goal, you write it down. If you are artistically driven, you can draw it, paint it, sculpt it, or make it physical in whatever way works best for you. However you do it, do not allow your legacy to remain just an idea! Your legacy will be much more motivating when you can look at it each and every day.

Knowing you have a legacy and you are living your true purpose every day is a wonderful thing. It makes you spring out of bed each morning, energized and excited! How many people do you know look forward to their day, every day, in that way? So take the time to visualize and define your legacy today. You will be giving yourself a path to personal development with a purpose, and that is a path to success!

To Your Success and Prosperity,
Mariano

Practice Change

Visualize your ideal life and what you want to leave as your legacy. After you have a picture of the legacy in your mind, write down what you have imagined. Do not worry if it is not perfect or super clear the first time. Just continue to revisit it and allow your legacy map to unfold.

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