The Legacy Drawing Board

A marathon is more than 26.2 miles.  It is a gathering of thousands stories that will add another chapter at the finish line.  I share three stories involving marathons as inspiration to design and to build your legacy.  

How do you envision your legacy progressing with passing years?  Are you seeking to retain your youth or to expand your experiences?  Have you designed growth and maturation into your legacy design?  Listen to appreciate that 60 is not the new 40, but the cherished stage that required six decades to build.  

A second act is not a second chance.  In plays, the second act connects the first to the third and final one.  It serves to lay out the conflict or challenge the protagonist faces.  We may think of a second career or retirement as a second act, but those are chapters of a singular story.  However, when designing our legacy, we need to envision the story we want to tell and how to get to tell that story.  

Have you designed inspiration into your legacy?  Do you want to inspire others your legacy touches them?  Will others build more meaningful legacies when they see your on display?  Listen to inspire by storytelling.   

Your legacy is a collection of your works as an artist.  As you have designed your legacy, you need to also design the museum to house and to display your work.  What is the structure that will invite people to tour and to ponder?  

"All the world's a stage."  Is your legacy a comedy or a drama?  Have you matured in your acting skills?  Listen to see your legacy through the lens of stage production to hone and mature your skills in conveying your story.  

Autumn marks the end of the carefree endless days of summer.  The air grows colder and the nights longer as responsibilities quicken.  Autumn is a time to take stock of your legacy's harvest.  

How have you prepared for the time when you are called to mentor those who are to take your place?  Are you willing to mark success based on the growth and development of others?  Listen to appreciate the legacy building lessons from the responsibilities of being the backup catcher.  

As you design and build your legacy, have you given thought to who will be entrusted with it when you are gone?  Organizations and families take steps to ensure that assets and values are passed down to the next generation.  Listen to incorporate this important step in the care of your legacy.  

A journal is a studio of solitude where your thoughts have the space to roam and to explore.  Begin a journal and you will be able to see where you have traveled.  Reflect on your entries and you will blaze a trail to where you want to go.  A journal is map for the mind and a compass for the soul.