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.
Guido Thys
Alan, you are being a little bit too modest here.
I am one of the 11 bad/good guys having somehow managed to fill out a wrong expiry date on the form.
Much to my surprise I did not only get a pesonal e-mail message from you (which, of course, could have been sent by one of the “nice people”, but I think it wasn’t) but also a lengthy message on my voicemail spoken by the voice I know from workshops and podcasts.
One does not have to be a genius in arithmetic to calculate that the margin on the sale -narrowed down by the special offer- was spent on this message on a call to a mobile phone in Europe.
I am certain this personal approach helped a lot to achieve the score of 11/12. Personally I was going to sort out the mess at some point, but it turned into a priority when I heard your personal message.
Retail staff can achieve a lot, but let’s not underestimate the power of the Boss.
Thanks for your patience.
Alan Weiss
Thanks, Guido. And guess what: The Lithuanian order was real, and the person apologized and got back to me after I sent I letter by regular mail. So, 12/12.
Avonelle Lovhaug
I think this relates to hourly pricing. When we charge by the hour, we are saying “I don’t trust you to make good use of my time unless I penalize you for it”. But I’ve found that if I treat my customers with respect instead of acting like they are trying to hurt me, they prove themselves worthy of that trust time and time again.
It isn’t that there aren’t idiots out there. But why start out the relationship assuming your customer is one of them?
Jim Bradford
I see that Amazon has sold out of Thrive! (I bought mine directly from Alan so I’m feeling a little smug). This is probably good news about the demand for Alan’s book! In my experience Amazon doesn’t sell out of popular books very often.
Peter Marer
Thanks for another invaluable book Alan – I bought 6 of themn – 1 for me and I give them as a gift to those who I think need the gift of perception – including my kids – see you down under again soon
Alan Weiss
Thanks, Peter! If you get the chance, please consider writing a review on Amazon.com.