Experience Business and Personal Success in 2019 with a “Legacy-Driven” Mindset

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Making an impact will be just as important as making an income is central to adopting a “Legacy-Driven mindset” and that becomes crucial to long-term success in both our business and personal lives.

In watching how people navigate the landscape of their business and personal lives, I believe that women have a better sense of how to adopt and implement this way of life because women always seem to be in charge of balancing the life and work dance—and like Ginger Rogers with Fred Astaire, they can also do it backwards.

Why a “Legacy-Driven Mindset” is Not a Strategy or Tactic

The “Legacy-Driven mindset” is deciding what is truly important in the entirety of your life—and then living it. Why is this crucial to long-term success in our working and personal lives? Thinking about long-term successes rather than short term fulfillment keeps you focused on your specified path during times of chaos and uncertainty. And because your actions are rooted in a much bigger picture of how you should live your life, you won’t be pulled willy-nilly by every capricious whim and wind that comes your way.

“Living Your Legacy”—In my writing and speaking to groups about my book, The Legacy Letters, I came to the realization one day that legacy was not the sum total of who and of what you left behind in your life but how you “walk your talk” or “live your legacy” in all your words and actions. This long-term outlook—this legacy-driven outlook—is what gives purpose to your priorities. Thoreau wrote: “Simplify, simplify, simplify.” I would rather it be: “Prioritize, prioritize, prioritize.”

The “Ginger Rogers” Syndrome—Why is it so important to prioritize in this life? Because we’ve come to believe that everything we do, all the time, is important. That if we could only answer the next e-mail, text the text message, race to the next meeting, buy the next new thing, go on the perfect vacation, dot every “i” perfectly and cross every “t” like precision, then we would win the race, become the perfect person, and get the gold star for doing the most things in a twenty-four period of time. And as so many professional women know the “Ginger Rogers” syndrome, they still can do it backwards. But this perfection is false prioritizing. It is just checking boxes. And when you reach the end of your life, are you happy that you checked so many boxes so well?

The Regret Test—When I speak to audiences about legacy-driven life, I ask them to take a simple test that I call “The Regret Test.” Imagine you’re ninety years old and now can look back on your life and find all the regrets you have. Imagine talking to yourself right now at the age your and say, “Why are you still at that “great” job making a ton of money and being totally miserable?” or “Why don’t you leave that idiot boyfriend and find someone who loves you, or really wants to have kids with you, or loves you being the CEO of your company?” or “Why don’t you go live in Colorado or France like you’ve always wanted?”

Then you continue the conversation: “I’m here to tell you as your ninety-year old self, you are going down a long path to unhappiness and ultimately will have more regrets than not. And I’m here to tell you that it really sucks to have more regrets at the end of your life when you could have easily decided not to have gone down the path of most regrets. You could have decided to live your life and not the life everyone else wanted you to live. Because, at the end of the day—or the end of your life—if you can’t say to yourself, I’ve done a good job of living well, then you really have blown it.”

Now that’s one powerful conversation to have with yourself.

Bio:

Carew Papritz is the 5-Time award-winning author of the inspirational book, The Legacy Letters, which was featured last month in INC.: 5 Gifts That Will Do Good Long After You Buy Them

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The 4AM Club: Three Ways to Make It Work For You

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You’ve heard it said: the early bird catches the worm — in the opinion of many highly successful people, the phrase is much more than a cliche.

The benefits of an extremely early morning routine have been touted by so many self-made celebrities that the “4AM Club” has become a part of the public vernacular. It’s the magic hour for many world changers like Oprah, Michelle Obama, and Tim Cook, and experience has taught me why. In my world, it’s a time of quiet, focus, determination, and accomplishment.

As an entrepreneur and a mother, high-paced days at my desk and endless days on the road are only outpaced by high-energy evenings and weekends with my family of five. By waking up at 4 AM, I’m able to routinely devote time to my own self-development and care, a necessary practice for success in all areas of my life.

If this is something you’ve wanted to try but haven’t yet managed to find success in, here are a few keys I’ve found to making this routine not only possible, but extremely enjoyable as well:

Check your DNA

Our tendency to be productive at certain times of the day is often hard-wired in us, an internal clock that’s determined by our DNA. This genetic predisposition is called our chronotype. If you identify as a “night owl”, then you can stop reading now. This method is not for you. In fact, research shows a correlation to weight gain, diabetes, and heart disease if you try to force an extra early wake-time when your DNA is telling you otherwise. But if you feel like you do your best work in the morning, or maybe you’re not sure, than the 4 AM club could be for you.

Check your Watch

The key to sustaining this routine has everything to do with a consistent sleep schedule. Knowing the exact number of sleep hours that support your peak performance is requisite to success. Not getting enough sleep effectively compromises all the systems that work together for success in day-to-day life. Without enough sleep, the motivation to exercise is zapped, food choices start moving in a downward spiral, and productivity at work takes a nosedive.

Check your Excuses

An early morning routine is a no-excuses kind of practice. Follow the 21/90 rule — on average, it takes 21 days to form a habit. If the system seems to be working for you, another 90 days is recommended to turn it into a permanent lifestyle change. That said, the first few days will inevitably be brutal. Resist the temptation to hit snooze on that alarm by using the Rule of 5. When the alarm goes off, count to five, pop up, and start moving out of bed, no matter how you feel about it in that moment.

Above all, know that every person is wired in their own way, and successful habits look different for everyone. Do not try to define yourself by what works for others — instead, let them inspire you to find your own routines that drive you toward your goals.

Author Bio

Judith Nowlin, Chief Growth Officer with Babyscripts. Judith created iBirth™, a mobile care companion for pregnancy, birth and postpartum, to help healthcare practitioners deliver better health outcomes for women and children in the United States and beyond. The original idea for the app was born out of her prior decade of service in maternity care. The technology platform she and her team built has since impacted nearly 1 million families on their journey toward optimal health and wellness during one of life’s most precious times. iBirth was acquired in June 2018 by Babyscripts, Inc., the leading virtual care platform for obstetrics. You can find her here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/judith-nowlin-3a9b82b/

Guest contributors views are their own.

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Voice of Experience: Sandra Bang, Chief Diversity and Talent Strategy Officer at Shearman & Sterling LLP

Sandra Bang“When it comes to diversity and inclusion, we have to continually find many ways to talk about it openly, even if this involves having difficult conversations,because although it may feel challenging, the end result will be worth it for everyone“ states Sandra Bang, Chief Diversity and Talent Strategy Officer at Shearman & Sterling LLP.

She continues, “Having dialogue, listening to each other’s stories about how we learn, develop, grow,and achieve career successes – hearing a diverse range of perspectives – will help support everyone better, and create a more inclusive environment.

Ms. Bang started her legal career as a litigator in Toronto, Canada. She also spent a year as a provincial prosecutor stating, “This was an incredible learning experience for me because I had to think on my feet every day, not always knowing what cases I was going to handle on a given day, nor which cases would settle or proceed.”

Bang then went into legal recruitment and professional development, and moved to New York City in 2004 where she continued her work in the legal talent management space with firms such as Weil, Gotshal & Manges and Chadbourne & Parke before joining Shearman and Sterling in 2008.

She continues, “Diversity and inclusion has always been an inherent part of the legal talent recruitment, development and management work that I’ve done. I am excited about my current work as it allows me to spend the majority of my time on diversity and inclusion. And this work is about engaging people, and strategically creating an inclusive work environment where everyone can feel like they belong and do their best work and advance their career. The business case is clear: the research and data show that better results are achieved when you have both an inclusive environment and diverse teams.”

She is enthused about diversity and inclusion as an integral part of the firm’s business strategy and sees that clients are also committed to moving the needle on diversity and inclusion. She comments,

“I think the efforts being made in the legal industry on the diversity and inclusion front has moved up a notch as the benefits of collaborating on this topic are evident. It is exciting to work closely with clients and having dialogue around how we can help each other create change from both a business and organizational perspective.”

Feeling Engaged and Feeling included

As an executive who has spent several years in professional development and is a certified coach, Bang feels that talking to people, particularly those from diverse backgrounds, about their career path – listening to what people want to achieve, giving them feedback that will help them get to where they want to go, and providing opportunities to achieve new experiences and success – is both a business imperative and the right thing to do. She shares,

“Having a sense of belonging in our work environment and feeling understood is essential. If you are are in a business environment and you constantly feel like you don’t belong, then you can’t do your best work. Coaching leaders and managers to lead and manage inclusively, and create diverse teams with members who feel included and understood in the workplace will not only help people achieve and serve clients better, but also produce better business results.”

When asked what career advice that she would give her younger self or to others, she says, ‘that it is more than ok to fail’ and recounts that the idea of perfectionism had a stronghold grip on her for a long time. She shares, “It wasn’t until recently that I realized that it’s ok to fail and fail fast. That’s how you learn. When you fail, you pick yourself up, and try something differently. Ultimately, it is about taking more risks.”

She is a strong advocate for encouraging people to ask for what they need and want to advance their careers, particularly women and people from diverse backgrounds. The subject of entering into conversations comes up, with Bang advising people to be smart and strategic around their asks, but to face their own fears by asking ‘the questions that we are afraid to ask’. She says, “You won’t get what you don’t ask for.”

Generational Change

Bang believes that Millennials will continue to have a significant impact on how the needle will be moved on the topic of diversity and inclusion in the workplace. “Millennials know that there is a business and competitive advantage to having a diverse team, where there is diversity in perspectives, thoughts and insights result in a better outcome.”

Shearman & Sterling is taking all of this into consideration as it takes its diversity and inclusion strategy to the next level. With recommendations resulting from an inclusion diagnostic, the firm has created a new global Task Force, headed up by the firm’s Senior Partner, and will take a data driven approach to designing and rolling out initiatives and programs to better help everyone achieve career success at the firm. Shearman continues its close work with clients on co-hosting diversity and inclusion education and awareness programs, as well as advancing know-how and networking opportunities on topics such as Blockchain and the FinTech industry generally.

“It’s exciting to be working collaboratively with both internal and external clients,” says Bang, “to create learning and advancement opportunities for women and people from diverse backgrounds and experiences in particular. Using data and client driven approaches, that align with business strategy, to advance diversity and inclusion initiatives, is what it is all about.”

Renewal and Life outside work

Outside of work, Bang enjoys spending time and traveling with her family. She comments that traveling provides so many opportunities to learn and share — including the diverse communities within and outside the US, and of different perspectives and experiences.

“Traveling with my kids always presents tremendous learning opportunities for me. I love hearing their perspectives on things we do, places we explore and people we meet. They remind me that there is great optimism to be had because people remain curious, and as the world becomes increasingly more connected, there is a greater sharing of culture and stories.”

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