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On Legacy & Values
One of my favorite questions to ask guests on my Inspiration Contagion podcast is “What’s the legacy you wish to leave behind?”
I love asking this question because legacy comes from the heart. The best stories and connections come when we are speaking and leading from our heart.
And every once in a while, I find people struggling to answer this question. Even then I am grateful for asking it. Because if you are living life not knowing your answer to this question, you are living a shell of a life.
You are likely sleepwalking through life. In order to grow, we must know what we want to grow into. We need a clear purpose and intention for our journey.
When I die, I want to be remembered for my inspiration and love. I want people to remember me as a leader, wife, mother, daughter, friend and business owner who put people first. Who connected others. Who led from the heart. Who helped her clients have even bigger impacts. Someone who helped heal the world through small impacts with ripple effects. By helping individuals and business owners heal their lives and reach others to do the same.
Your Journey is Unique
No one else can tell you what the right legacy is for your life. Only YOU can answer these questions. Just like no one else can define success for you. This is your unique journey.
Let’s make the journey enjoyable and fulfilling. To do so, start by defining success for yourself. Define what legacy you are building.
Then you can use this as your compass. Your guiding light for making decisions.
When you get laser clear on what you want to be remembered for, everything becomes simple. You will know what to say yes to. What to say no to. You will be clear on which road to take when faced with a fork in the road.
Along our journey, we will all be faced with challenges. But when we are tuned into our legacy, it helps us stay inspired. We stay fired up. Jazzed about tackling anything life throws our way.
If you are facing a challenge today and feeling defeated, consider reflecting on your legacy today.
Is your legacy still what you are most passionate about? Do you need to redefine your legacy? Or have you simply stopped making decisions based on your legacy?
Take some time to reflect on these questions. As you gain clarity, everything else will fall into place. When we know what our legacy is, it helps us simplify everything.
Our priorities fall into place. Our decisions become clear. We get more fired up as we start each day.
I would love to hear from you.
What is your legacy? What are you building?
Defining Your Legacy
Struggling to get clear on what your legacy is? Many business owners, leaders and parents struggle with this. You are not alone.
The important thing is you are here. You are taking the time to reflect on what is most important to you. You are curious about your legacy. You are ready to uncover what really fires you up.
And that is something to celebrate!
Below are some questions to help you gain clarity. Use these during meditation, reflection time and for journaling. They will help you get clear on what your legacy is.
It may take some time so be patient with the process. This is not something you can rush or force. Stick with it for at least 30 days. When you find your legacy, you will know.
Legacy Reflection Questions:
- What do I want my children to remember about my life?
- When I die, what do I want people saying about me at my funeral?
- What am I most passionate about changing in this lifetime?
- What cause or purpose would give me the most inspiration every single day?
- What special gifts do I have that no one else in this world has?
Use these questions to go within for the answers. No one else can do the work for you. Only you know the answers.
Take the time. Be patient. Stay curious and open.
You’ve got this!
How Do Values Help?
While your legacy is your guiding light, your values are like those bumper side rails at the bowling alley. They help you stay the course. They help you realize when you are off track.
When you feel yourself going off the rails, it’s time to check in with your values.
Values help us show up from the right energy for each unique situation. Becoming close friends with all of your values will help you show up powerfully.
My four values are creativity, intimacy, harmony and freedom.
I worked recently with an energy healer to build characters for each of my values. For example, when I think about the essence of my value for creativity, I think of a woman who is colorful, fun and inspired!
I’ve named her Flo. Flo is “in flow” with serendipity. Open to trying new things. Always willing to be a scientist and experiment with a new hypothesis. She is willing to fail because she looks at failure as an opportunity to try something else.
Because I am clear on my value of creativity and how she helps me when I am facing a challenge, I can tap into Flo at key moments. When I am writing, I tap into Flo. When I am helping clients solve a problem I tap into Flo and creativity.
When I look at my value of freedom, it’s about exploration, strength, independence and travel. I have named her Boss Babe. Because she’s got this attitude of “I can do anything”. And she can! She is independent, strong and doesn’t take nonsense. She has clear boundaries. She is always ready to break through any glass ceilings. Because to her they don’t exist. She has a mentality of “challenge accepted!”.
Boss Babe is an amazing character and essence to tap into. But I have had to learn when to tap into her and when not to. For example, if I am having a difficult conversation with my partner, it’s better when I tap into my creativity and intimacy values. If I show up from the essence of boss babe only, we are likely to have a huge fight and get stuck because we are both independent and stubborn.
So my challenge for you today is to take some time to explore your values. What are your four values?
Take a month to explore what each value means to you.
Here are some questions to help you explore:
- If you created a character that represents each value, what would he or she look like?
- What would they sound like?
- How do you show up differently when you are tapped into one particular value over another?
- What situations lend themselves best for each character and value?
- Are there times when you tap into the wrong character? How could you shift this tendency?
- Can you see how having clarity around each of these values and characters will allow you to show up more powerfully?
When you put this all together, you can never get off track. When you know the legacy you are building, you have a clear light guiding your path forward. When you have your values and characters working with you and for you, you will make progress much faster along your path.
How’s it Going?
I would love to hear from YOU.
What is the legacy you are building? How’s it going?
What are your four values? How did it go building out characters for them? And exploring how you show up in various situations from specific value based perspectives?
Let me know how it’s going.
