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.
Alan
I noticed you mentioned Latin America. I recently visited Medellin Colombia, and I found it to be a fantastic city (and safe by the way, contrary to what we hear from the state department), where I can rent a 3 bedroom penthouse apartment in the Poblado area for around 1500 USD per month, and dinner for 2 in a great restaurant with a bottle of wine for under 80 USD. What was your experience working with Latin America, and if running a solo practice is a viable option while living there, with clients in the USA? (VOIP for phone & fax, and travel to the States when needed, etc.) Medellin is also known for beautiful women, which I can verify to be very true. (I’m 29 and single). Is this a viable option, to run a successful practice while living abroad?
Alan Weiss
I ran Latin America for a consulting company, and then went on two speaking tours there after going out on my own. I spoke in Colombia when it WAS dangerous and when Venezuela was wealthy and stable. You can run a solo practice anywhere, but you’d have a hard time if your clients were in the US. Moreover, culturally, it’s tough because people tend not to say “no” candidly, meetings and appointments are ALWAYS late, and things move quite slowly compared to the US. I’ll get in trouble for this, but the most beautiful women I’ve ever seen (that is, daily, on the street) are in Venezuela, Colombia, and the Philippines, and the most musical people I’ve ever encountered are in the Philippines.
Alan
I appreciate your insight, and I absolutely agree. Paisas (people that live in Medellin) are known for saying yes to things, even though they are not interested, and if they are 45 minutes late to an appointment, they feel it’s no big deal. I see Colombia as having a better quality of life, where to live well, the costs are 1/3 as to what they are here in the states. I will have to see for myself how often I have to travel as my client base grows. I live in Orlando currently and I have to travel about 1 week per month at the moment, and will increase as I grow. While I was in Medellin, I rented an airbnb to myself, and went to salsa clubs in the evening and just felt, man what a life! We’ll see if it works. Worst case scenario, I’ll just have to move to Miami.