The Legacy Drawing Board

A contranym is a word with two opposite meanings.  Is your legacy suffering this fate?  As you design and build your legacy, take time to ask those who are influenced by your legacy what is their perception of your message.  This investment of time will pay dividends in ensuring that you are delivering the legacy you want.  

This is the first episode of Hi oh! Hijinks, the podcast within a podcast.   I discuss the transition of working from home back to the office with my co-host Darrell Jenkins.  We look for the laughter during this workplace shift for many, especially those who are early in their careers.  Join us for the podcast equivalent of shooting the breeze with work colleagues at the water cooler.  

A marathon is more than 26.2 miles.  It is a gathering of thousands stories that will add another chapter at the finish line.  I share three stories involving marathons as inspiration to design and to build your legacy.  

How do you envision your legacy progressing with passing years?  Are you seeking to retain your youth or to expand your experiences?  Have you designed growth and maturation into your legacy design?  Listen to appreciate that 60 is not the new 40, but the cherished stage that required six decades to build.  

A second act is not a second chance.  In plays, the second act connects the first to the third and final one.  It serves to lay out the conflict or challenge the protagonist faces.  We may think of a second career or retirement as a second act, but those are chapters of a singular story.  However, when designing our legacy, we need to envision the story we want to tell and how to get to tell that...

Have you designed inspiration into your legacy?  Do you want to inspire others your legacy touches them?  Will others build more meaningful legacies when they see your on display?  Listen to inspire by storytelling.   

Your legacy is a collection of your works as an artist.  As you have designed your legacy, you need to also design the museum to house and to display your work.  What is the structure that will invite people to tour and to ponder?  

"All the world's a stage."  Is your legacy a comedy or a drama?  Have you matured in your acting skills?  Listen to see your legacy through the lens of stage production to hone and mature your skills in conveying your story.  

Autumn marks the end of the carefree endless days of summer.  The air grows colder and the nights longer as responsibilities quicken.  Autumn is a time to take stock of your legacy's harvest.  

How have you prepared for the time when you are called to mentor those who are to take your place?  Are you willing to mark success based on the growth and development of others?  Listen to appreciate the legacy building lessons from the responsibilities of being the backup catcher.  

As you design and build your legacy, have you given thought to who will be entrusted with it when you are gone?  Organizations and families take steps to ensure that assets and values are passed down to the next generation.  Listen to incorporate this important step in the care of your legacy.  

A journal is a studio of solitude where your thoughts have the space to roam and to explore.  Begin a journal and you will be able to see where you have traveled.  Reflect on your entries and you will blaze a trail to where you want to go.  A journal is map for the mind and a compass for the soul.  

Aphorisms are the end result of the hard work of distilling truths and principles into a message that is concise and clear.   Your legacy building follows a similar process.  Listen to learn how developing your own aphorisms will enhance your legacy.  

Jubilee marks the time to hallow a year to return to one's land and family.  This period of rest and restoration is needed to reflect on the direction and steps of our lives.  Listen to learn how to incorporate jubilee into your legacy.  

We will cry tears of joy and sorrow.  Tears will mark our celebrations and times of mourning.  How you respond to your own tears and the tears of others will be clear messages of your legacy. 

Burnout is the washing out of the bridge between empathy and compassion.  We can be moved to tears while not moving to help someone stop crying.  A legacy of empathy is nothing compared to a legacy of compassion.  Listen to build and maintain a bridge that tells a story of edification and connection.  

Companies spend a great deal of time and money on building their brand, then protecting it.  They do so because it establishes their identify and personality, which helps distinguish them in markets.  Branding speaks to customers to foster trust and value.  You should take a similar approach in building your legacy.  Listen to strengthen the brand of your legacy.  

How will you respond when matters go awry and you are left to answer for them?  How we prioritize our accountability defines our character and how others define our reputation.  Keep your story and legacy honest by being accountable.  

We strive for success, but do we plan on how to wield the power that comes with it?  If we do not prepare ourselves for success, its arrival will overwhelm us and leave our legacies tattered.  Listen to design a path from success to your intended legacy.  

Building your legacy is important.  Just as important is why you want to share your legacy.  Your legacy becomes long-lasting when its purpose is to elevate and to edify others.  Listen to ensure that your message spans the generations.   

I interview musicians Jonathan Fong and Isaiah Sidouang to discuss their perspectives on the creative process of jazz.  Moreover, I ask these two entrepreneurs how playing jazz has influenced their business pursuits.  

Your children are your children, not your legacy.  Design your parenting to inspire them to tell their own stories while providing support for each stage of their development.  

Congratulations to the Class of 2024 and your parents.  Now is the time to write your story and design your legacy.  This applies to the graduates and their parents.  Listen for encouragement as both of your begin new chapters of your stories.  

The playground or sandlot is the laboratory, workshop, and studio for children in developing their innovation, leadership, and decision-making skills.  When they lose access and adults structure their playtime, this interference impacts their maturation as adults.  This deters them from writing their own stories and confides them to penning the sequel to their parents' stories.  No story, no legac...

We associate boredom and waste with meetings.  The key to better meetings is better design through storytelling.  One of the most important meetings for legacy building is with your past and future selves.  Listen to arrange this meeting to align vision with execution and to ensure you are on the path to building the legacy you want.