Are You Building a Legacy?

In the last few months, I have declared war. Now, war tends to be viewed as some battle between opposing foes. In my world, the foes are from within. There is one side of me that wants to sit around, drink a bunch of Bundaberg & Coke, and generally be lazy. Then there is the other side of me that loves to work out three times per day, build a business of my own design and establish a future that involves me spending more time with my family than with coworkers. The battle between these two characters from within has been raging lately. Unfortunately, tonight, the lazy ass won.

See, I was spending some quality time with the little lady watching fat people lose weight on TV while I gained it all back for them on the couch. Luckily, my little green light on my phone distracted me letting me know I had a few tweets from friends to check up on. That’s when this little golden nugget appeared…

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I realized that I was just as bad as the fat people on TV before they “joined the ranch”.  I was not disciplining myself. I was letting the guy with the Bundie and coke chill when the world was waiting for him to excel.

Runyon is right (He usually is). Discipline is about making the most of the 80+ years you have to do so. If I look back on tonight, I wasted about 2 hours of my life on TV. How annoying and depressing is that? When I am on my death bed and someone were to mention what I was doing those two hours of my life, I would regretfully say I was watching fat people do jumping jacks. What kind of legacy is that?

What is Your Legacy

So that got me thinking about a video on legacy I saw a while back. It featured a living legend in Tim Ferriss and the guys from The Ren Men Show. In only episode 14, they had already achieved something unimaginable in the infancy of their project. They interviewed THE Tim Ferriss.

The hidden gem of the interview comes at the 8 minute mark. Now, the whole interview is great, but they ask Tim a question in regards to the type of legacy Tim wants to leave. Please check out his response to his legacy at the 8:00 mark below…

Episode 14 – The Ren Men Show from The Ren Men Show on Vimeo.

The reason I wanted to point this out is because it brings us back to Joel Runyon’s point with discipline. To create a legacy, you must have discipline that far surpasses not only that what others do, but the limited boundaries of accomplishment that others set within their mind upon themselves and others. (Please…do me one favor and re-read and think about that last sentence) Successful people, like Ferriss and The Ren Men guys, use this abundance of discipline to be different. Difference is their discipline. That is the discipline that most legacy’s are built on. The success we have solely derives from the disciplined approach we take.

The Outside View of Legacy

I have come across many people who negatively think upon others who strive to build a legacy. I can’t lie, I have thought those building a legacy are arrogant as well. However, my outlook on the existence of a legacy has drastically changed.  For the last few years, I have seen legacy as the only real purpose of life. Why? Because humans, in my eyes, naturally want to please others and that is absolutely okay.

Legacy is seen as a way of boasting one’s character. It is just that. The reason we boast our own character is because we want to be admired and, most importantly of all, we want to set an example.

For a moment, don’t think about the arrogance that Michael Jordan or Donald Trump have. I know, it’s tough to do. However, if you can look past the exterior boasting, you will see a person building a character that they hope will positively influence the lives of others. That is what a legacy is about. It isn’t about how many voyages one has been on or cars in their garage or ladies they have been with (speaking to you Hef). It’s about the development of a self that others currently and will always see as someone they want to be or be like. This admiration is not an unnatural thing. In fact, it is the reason we strive to do anything and everything we feel is positive in our life.

How Are You Building a Legacy

To be honest, it is a struggle. But what the hell isn’t. Plus it’s a lot more fun struggling to succeed than struggling to just survive.

Building a legacy that one can look back on and appreciate is important. Ignore the negative connotations placed upon the word as they only hold people back from achieving the things they are jealous of others for succeeding at first.

Stop holding yourself back from building a legacy. You will look back from your death bed and wonder why the hell you watched so many others achieve so much in the two hours you watched fat people do jumping jacks.

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