Random musings: Are you leaving a legacy?

Tuesday, May 23, 2017

Are you leaving a legacy?

Over the past few weeks I've talked about money several times: Build Your Wealth: Graduate from a Paycheck Mentality to a Net Worth Mentality, Would you rather be rich or wealthy? and Time is money. Or is it?. This post will pretty much wrap up the current discussion about money.

Today I'm going to touch on leaving a legacy and the difference between a legacy and an inheritance. According to dictionary.com, legacy means:

Law. a gift of property, especially personal property, as money, by will; a bequest.

While inheritance is:

something that is or may be inherited; property passing at the owner's death to the heir or those entitled to succeed

As pointed out in English Language & Usage Stack Exchange:

"inheritance" is generally from the viewpoint of the receiver, while "legacy" is from the viewpoint of the giver: My inheritance was my father's legacy.

But in this post we're going to be looking at a slightly different view of the word legacy:

I first saw this quote on my Facebook friend, Darla DiGrandi's wall.

And I saw this quote in an article called 5 Ways to Leave a Great Legacy, which I think sums it up pretty well:

“Carve your name on hearts, not tombstones. A legacy is etched into the minds of others and the stories they share about you.” — Shannon L. Alder

Here are the five ways to leave a great legacy:

Support the People and Causes That are Important to You

Reflect and Decide What is Most Important in Your Life

Share Your Blessings With Others

Be a Mentor to Others

Pursue Your Passions Because They Are Infectious

And here's an interesting idea that I ran into...The six-word memoir:

Write a Six-Word Memoir
The Six-Word Memoir is the brainchild of Larry Smith, founder and editor of SMITH Magazine. It poses a simple challenge: “Can you tell your life story in six words?” The unsubstantiated story is that Ernest Hemingway wrote the now-famous six words "For sale: baby shoes, never worn" to prove that an entire story could be told using just half a dozen words.

In a similar manner, the Six-Word Memoir is a way of naming your mission in life. Staring at a blank page can be daunting, but choosing six words to define your mission and what you want your life to stand for may not be so hard and may even be energizing and stimulating. Try thinking of six poignant words that can define the footprint you want to leave in your life's path.

And I'll close this post out with another quote: