Your Legacy is Now
Life is not a search for meaning from others, it’s about the creation of meaning for yourself.
For over 30 years Alan Weiss has consulted, coached, and advised everyone from Fortune 500 executives, state governors, non-profit directors, and entrepreneurs to athletes, entertainers, and beauty pageant contestants. That’s quite an assortment of people, and they run into the thousands. Most of them have had what we euphemistically call “means,” and some of them have had a lot more than that. Others have been aspiring and with more ends in sight than means on hand.
Alan Weiss states:
I’ve dealt with esteem (low), narcissism (high), family problems, leadership dysfunctions, insecurities, addictions, and ethical quandaries. And I’ve talked about them through the coronavirus crisis. But don’t get the wrong idea. About 95% of these people have been well-meaning, honest (to the best of their knowledge), and interested in becoming a better person and better professional. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be talking to me.
I found the equivalent of the “runner’s wall” in their journeys, where they must break through the pain and the obstacles and then can keep going with renewed energy and spirit. But runners know how far they must go after the breakthrough, be it another half lap or another five miles. There is a finish line.
I’ve found that people in all positions, even after the “breakthrough,” don’t know where they are in the race, let alone where the finish line is.
They do not know what meaning is for them. They may have money in the bank, good relationships, the admiration of others, and the love of their dogs. But they have no metrics for “What now?” They believe that at the end of life there is a tallying, some metaphysical accountant who totals up their contributions, deducts their bad acts, and creates the (hopefully positive) difference.
That difference, they believe, is their “legacy.”
But the thought that legacy arrives at the end of life is as ridiculous as someone who decides to sell a business and tries to increase its valuation the day prior. Legacy is now. Legacy is daily. Every day we create the next page in our lives, but the question becomes who is writing it and what’s being written. Is someone else creating our legacy? Or are we, ourselves, simply writing the same page repeatedly?
Or do we leave it blank?
Our organic, living legacy is marred and squeezed by huge normative pressures. There is a “threshold” point, at which one’s beliefs and values are overridden by immense peer pressure. Our metrics are forced to change.
In an age of social media, biased press, and bullying, we’ve come to a point where our legacy, ironically, is almost out of our hands.
Yet our “meaning”—our creation of meaning and not a search for some illusive alchemy—creates worth and impact for us and all those with whom we interact.
Richard Martin
That’s priceless!
Dave Gardner
You interrupted my Tweeting for this?
michael cardus
I really enjoy this despair.com products.
I often use your postcards when working with leadership teams.
When people first see the images they automatically think that the images are the cheesy successory images about teamwork and dedication.
When they read the postcards you can see the confusion then utter laughter.
John Felkins
I enjoy social media but I couldn’t pass over the truth that was in this image. I’ve yet to find the business ROI in social media for me. I do like staying in touch though…
Elizabeth Hagen
Priceless is right!
Gretchen
I’ll link to this on my next tweet.
Alan Weiss
Even if you’re in love with social media, if you can laugh at yourself, you’re still partly human! (Unlike the Starbucks vice president who resented me making fun of an eminently satirical organization!)
Al
Hey, are you selling the t-shirt? That’s funny…
Alan Weiss
No, but I believe you can order them from the source, despair.com.
Jason Burke
This comment is more of a general add-on to the overall thread of Alan’s past posts about social media. First off, I love the Despair.com business, and have in fact purchased some of their (his?) goods. Regardless of whether you find them funny, there is a market for the material, and there is an online social community built around regular emails, a blog, and a Twitter feed. Much like consulting, Despair has identified the communication tools that best serve its and the customers’ needs – and has a tangible product to support it. It is a good example of a business that has used such social media effectively.
Alan’s past remarks about how it can be a waste are also correct, however. How can this be? It depends on the market. I personally don’t have clients that use Twitter (or blogs for that matter) and for me it would be a waste of time at this point. While I could while away hours and post mega-frequent updates, none of my client base would see them. I might be able to gain another client through that medium, but it just wouldn’t be worth it. As Alan pointed out previously, there are usually much more effective uses of time. If you can make Twitter (or any of the others) work for you, go for it! If not, don’t fight an uphill battle, or worse, alienate your existing clientele by spending time on projects that don’t help them.
Alan Weiss
Agreed. The point is not to proselytize. The cultists would have you believe that if something has worked for them (often just once) that everyone has to use it. And beware those with hidden agendas who actually are connected to or profit from participation on social platforms.