Tag Archive for: legacy

The Legacy Mindset – Why It Matters (Part 2)

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Last week, we featured part 1 of a guest contribution around having a legacy mindset for success. Enjoy part 2.

What can stop us from having a legacy mindset? What we forget in the 24-7 race that consumes our lives these days is a reminder of what is truly important in life. We want more than just to earn and consume. We want to matter in our lives. And in the lives of others. We want to make an impact on the world, not just make an income. And to do so, we need to change the definition of what it means to be successful.

Business people often think only of the bottom line but adopting a legacy-driven mindset puts you in a position to make that quantum leap forward, which will drive and sustain relentless development for future generations.

The Magic of the Arts to Shift Paradigms

A prime example of legacy-driven mindset resulted in one of the great paradigm shifting moments in business and culture. Business decry the lack of people who can write well and communicate in new ways. But in our short-term drive to believe that technology will solve all problems, people ballyhoo the arts as not really needed in our new digital world. Yet the magic of the arts is that they allow people to think and communicate differently—which if you’re a business, is exactly the edge you are looking for. Look at Steve Jobs who loved typography—and how form followed function in such a beautiful and timeless way—that he almost became a type designer. But instead his enduring love of beautiful and functional design manifested itself in the I-phone. He never lost sight of what drove his inspiration.

To Be Lucky or Be Prepared—That is the Question

What makes adopting a “legacy-driven” mindset so compelling is that you are always prepared. And in the capricious world of business and life, being so steadfastly prepared makes you constantly able to meet luck as if it’s an everyday occurrence. “Luck Is what happens when preparation meets opportunity” is the timeless quote of Roman philosopher, Seneca. You hear people say all the time talking about someone becoming an “overnight success” or reaping a windfall. Was Steve Jobs just lucky or was he always prepared?

A legacy-driven mindset is the basis for all profound changes in people’s lives. Though many of us will not change the world like Steve Jobs, we still deeply desire to touch those around us and to leave a lasting impression. Yes, we want to make an income but we desire to make an impact.

Leave Your Legacy Inside People

You want to change the world? Then leave your legacy inside of people. Inspire them with how you walk your talk. When leaders adopt a legacy-driven mindset, they leave something in people—and not just for people. Want to change the world? Inspire people to inspire themselves. That is truly living your legacy, which then is constantly renewed in others. Leaving people with things or information is not enough. Leave people with inspiration.

Why People “Undo” Their Legacy

I’m always amazed when a business or a person decides to “undo” their legacy for the short-sighted pursuit of an immediate gain versus the long-term success of a legacy-driven philosophy. It’s the candy-in-front-of-the-kid syndrome. “I want it now because I can have it now.” That’s how children think. Think of Wells Fargo or Volkswagen. Or Google or Facebook. What was Google’s mantra? Do no wrong—where did that go? But we excuse their behavior by saying, “They are big corporations with a bottom line and shareholders to satisfy.” But what really happened? They forgot who they were and why they were. A legacy-driven bottom line is much different than a ledger-driven bottom line. Which do you think will endure for a hundred years? Any enterprise that is led by people will possess the same characteristics that can be undone by people.

You Already Have the Answer—You’re Just too Busy to Hear It

How do you begin thinking in this “Legacy-Driven mindset?” Decide in your life what is important. You don’t have to do it overnight. But ponder it a bit. Make a list if you need to. When I ask people if they could do any three things in the world right now, what would they be? And they’re always surprised they have an answer. You’ve already prioritized things in your heart but your mind just doesn’t know it. Sometimes you have to cut through all the myriad noise and malarkey in your busy mind to find the truth that’s been there all along. Many times we’ve already made the priority in our hearts, but our minds just can’t—or won’t hear it.

The 4-Ps’s of Creating the “Legacy-Driven” Mindset

Another simple but effective way to help you think about the “Legacy-Driven” mindset is to use what I call the 4 P’s! These are: Passion, Pursuit, People, and Peace.

Passion is what makes you smile. What brightens your eyes when you think about doing it. This passion is the heart of living a “Legacy-Driven” life.

Pursuit is making this passion a reality.

People are real. Communicate with them. Be with them. Put away the electronic barriers that make real communication a false reality. Dance with people you really want to dance with. And don’t be afraid to dance both backwards and forwards. When people believe in your passion, they make the pursuit of it so much more worthwhile.

Peace is finding or creating peacefulness inside of you—one of the most difficult actions to attain in our brutally busy lives. It’s the being mindful of being human—and truly aware of being alive. Do this small step at the end of everyday—it’s a lovely way to put yourself to sleep. Ask yourself did you do a small act of kindness that day? Did you stare at the clouds for a moment? Do you put really listen to someone? Did you just stop and quit thinking for a moment? And if you did any or all these things—smile to yourself that you lived well that day. And if you didn’t, then go to sleep saying you’ll try again tomorrow.

A legacy doesn’t mean the end, but the beginning of a new phase in your life or the next chapter. In order to succeed, you should identify and evaluate your legacy at each stage in your life, whether it’s career oriented or personal. In your quest to make an impact upon yourself and others, you will discover how well this “Legacy-Driven” mindset creates a much deeper sense of a life well lived, while you’re actually living it.

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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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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