How to Leave a Legacy – Empower and Teach

This blog has been much more than a collection of articles. It has been a board diary, a record of my path.

Dear future self, this is for you: a snapshot of my thinking and being at this very moment, way out of my comfort zone.

Dear reader, who knows – maybe my experiences will shine a ray or two on your situation/growth/path as well. Let’s dive right in!

Teach

Many of my aha moments come while I’m exercising. Like the article The Key to a Magical, Meaningful Life inspired by an instructor at the gym.

You know how sports make you happier? Sports produce serotonin, one of the happiness hormones. The mind is quiet, the body is working, move after move, rhythm and blues – melodic and steady beat. Ideas and aha moments flash on the surface.

This time the process didn’t disappoint. As I was sweating, throwing legs and arms up in the air, I suddenly had a deep appreciation for the fitness instructor whose video trainings I was following. Memories came up from my university swimming trainer, from my father who taught me how to ski among other things. My grandma, who taught me crafts, grocery shopping, etc.

My trainers at the Consciousness Coaching Academy, my coaches (Annemieke Jansen and the ones before), my senior colleagues at work. I am the lucky holder and beneficiary of the knowledge and skills they’ve passed onto me.

My teachers are still alive through their lessons. I’ll pass these lessons onto my people, onto my children. As the years pass by, my teachers will stay alive through the knowledge and skills they passed down to me, and I’ll pass down to the next generation.

This is LEGACY.

Who am I to break the chain? Who am I to withhold what I’ve learned? Who am I to let my insecurity and doubt stop me from passing on the knowledge and skills forward?

Empower

I recently updated my LinkedIn profile. Where it was standing: “I’m proud of the products I’ve built” I added

I’m proud of the people I’ve impowered

This sentence started a whole new train of thought. I suddenly noticed the feedback from acquaintances, colleagues, Toastmasters peers that something I’d said moved and touched them. My words stayed with them. Even my younger sister recently declared me her coach since day one 😝

I had never realized the effect I might have had on others. Until that moment.

There have been times when I felt isolated, alone, and who cares about what I write, think, or what I am. Separation is an illusion. We’re all connected with an invisible net. When I make a movement, it affects a few dozen people. The impact is there even if I’m alone, even if I don’t speak to anyone. 

The same way I’m affected by all the people that are in my life. Gary Vee, my mom, my partner, my baby. Yeah, I put Gary Vee before my mom – more on that in later posts.

Even when it feels like I’m separate, I’m not. I can not untangle myself even if I wanted. If I started fighting, kicking and screaming I will get even more entangled in the net. 

This leads me to the conclusion that the impact is guaranteed. The legacy is guaranteed.

Dear millennials, stop asking yourself: “How do I make impact?”. You’ll inevitably do.

The real question is:

What will your impact/legacy be? Will it empower and inspire people, so that they’ll pass it onto their people, their children, to generations to come?
OR
Will you disempower them, take the wind off their sales so they’ll have to cope silently, even subconsciously, until the legacy dies out? And with it, you die as well. 

So, think – where do you stand in the picture? What’s the legacy you want to create?

Sometimes it’s as simple as sending a note to someone telling them how they impacted you, how a word they said changed the way you were thinking, or give someone feedback, a small token of appreciation praise for what they’re doing and how it enriches you.

❣️