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.
Kevin Quinley
Hilarious! You have hit upon some of my long-standing criticisms of golf, and I won’t even get into the ridiculous clothes that some of them wear!
Alan Weiss
It’s sort of like Scientology in its rigor, exclusions, and beliefs!
Peter McLean
I’ve played three rounds of golf in my life: once for an Aussie guest/friend in Texas who wanted to play in the state. Once before a brother’s wedding and once for a work “development” day. That’s more than enough. On the last occasion, staff all witnessed one of the bosses tossing golf clubs hither and thither in extreme anger when missing shots. This was his ‘relaxation’. And those people who say you have to learn golf for ‘business development’, boy have they got it wrong! Mini-golf is more fun with less angst. However, going to a local golf course, appreciating the surrounds and watching the kangaroos hop around the golfers while you sip a cool drink or eat a meal is pleasant.
By the way, what is the tree on your property in full bloom behind you in the video? Beautiful!
Alan Weiss
That, believe it or not, is a crab apple tree that our landscapers carefully keep nine kinds of pests off. It does well with a lot of care.
I think American golf courses could use some kangaroos. At it is, some have crocs, but they’re not dangerous because they’re so bored and would never put those clothes in their mouths.
Like I once watched football just to root against Notre Dame, I now enjoy golf solely to root against Tiger Woods. I love it when he gets upset and starts cursing and talking to himself.
Jason Weiss
This may help to illustrate the point:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNauilZRzHk&feature=share