legacy something meaningful that outlasts us€¦ · the family legacy i want to pass on to my...
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Legacysomething meaningful that outlasts us
Legacy From Your Past
What has been handed down from an ancestor or
predecessor?
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The classic definition of legacy usually refers to property or money received from someone who has died. However, many powerful legacies are nonfinancial, such as: talents, values, and strong family stories.
Examples: • She left us a legacy of a million dollars.• He left his children a legacy of love and respect.• The war left a legacy of pain and suffering.• Her artistic legacy lives on through her children.
Think about the people who came before you. Of all the generations you might be aware of, what are the stories and people you most remember, and how do they influence who you are today? Can you see any links between your ancestors and how you live your life?
What makes you proud of your family story?
How would describe the general family story or stories. For example: We come from hard working farmers. I still like to grow things, land is important to me and I feel most fulfilled when I get a chance to get my hands dirty working outside.
Think about one of the strong stories. What difference does it make to you today? Try to imagine what your life would be like if that story never took place.
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Legacy From Your Past
What are some favorite family traditions, songs, sport teams and holidays?
What family traditions do you continue?
What family traits do you have? Is there any reason why someone would recognize you as being from your family line?
Who has a strong influence on who you are today, what you believe and what you enjoy?
How did your ancestors come to America?
Are there aspects of the past generations you have chosen not to absorb into you present life?
Take-Home Discovery Questions
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Non-Family Legacy
Sometimes it’s not blood relatives that make the biggest impact and form our sense of legacy. It may be neighbors, school friends, teachers, pastors or perhaps famous people we never meet.
Who has influenced you enough that they come to mind when discussing legacy?
Who are your models, heroes, or inspirations for how wealth can be used? What about them is heroic or commendable to you?
What did they do, how did they behave, and what did they value and believe?
Were they directly connected to you or were they people you observed or read about?
What makes you proud to come from your family line?
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Take-Home Discovery Questions
Legacy From Your Past
Think about the legacy you have received from those who came before you. What beliefs and values do you share with those who came before you, and how have they influenced you today?
Who
What
How
Try to list what it is that you are the beneficiary of. For instance,integrity, honesty, good business sense, and/or athletic ability.
My family always liked to …
My family believed …
My family earned money by …
My family used their money for …
My family supported …
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Take-Home Discovery Questions
Communicating the Legacy You Received
How would describe your family legacy to your children and family members?
Who are the people you want to remember and why have they remained important?
The family legacy I want to pass on to my heirs is …
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Legacy Project Overview
WHYWhy is this project important? What difference will it make to you and to others? How do you want to feel about this project once it is completed?
HOW
WHATWhat will be the best way or ways to share the project with others?
Action WHO WHEN Comments
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Living Legacy
The legacy you are creating every day that will
make a difference and be remembered.
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Our legacy is dynamic. It comes from our deceased family members, from people and events we have witnessed,from what we have done so far in life, what we do now and the plans we act on in the future.
We create our legacy every day.
Examples: She began community service work as a child with her mother.
She has continued volunteer work with her own children even while working full time.
He started mentoring after he retired, now he runs an organization that helps connect mentors with students from troubled homes.
The family has supported this church for three generations. I plan to continue that support.
If someone who knows you well were to describe the legacy you are living and creating, what would they say?
To be in our children’s
memories, we need to be in
their lives today.
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Living Legacy
We all leave a footprint as we move through life. Consciously or unconsciously, we make an impact on those we connect with. What that impact is, how many we reach, and what difference we make varies not by how much money we share or how talented we are, but how intentional we are.
It can be a powerful experience to consider the idea of creating a legacy now, while we are alive, rather than by what we will leave behind.
What are your ideas about your living legacy? What comes to mind?
What kind of an impact would you like to make? Who would benefit? What difference would you make?
Family
Community
Personal
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Living Legacy
“When a great ship is in harbor and moored, it
is safe, there can be no doubt. But that is not
what great ships are built for.“
-Clarissa Pinkola Este
Is there something you feel you are meant to do? What is your intuition about how your efforts, creativity, insights, vision, values and wisdom may make a valuable contribution to how people live their lives today and in the future?
If you were not constrained by money or time, what would you like to do?
With whom would you like to build your legacy?
How will you know you are making progress towards the legacy you want to create?
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Take-Home Discovery Questions
Who are your heroes, who inspires you to be the best version of yourself?
What could be done now that would make you feel like you are making a difference that matters in some way?
Who do you want to benefit? What difference would you like them to experience?
There are many kinds of legacy, including passing values to the next generation, volunteering to support an organization you feel is important for future generations, pioneering something new, and planting a few sturdy trees that populate and last a hundred years.
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Take-Home Discovery Questions
When small steps become
habits big things happen.
My Living Legacy Intention
and Plan
Part One: Purpose Statement Why my living legacy is important to me. What difference I expect to experience as I implement my plan. How it would feel if I did not implement the plan.
Part Two: Resources and TimelinesWho will join me, support and encourage me? What resources will I use? What resources do I need to find and gather?
Part Three: How I will judge progress?
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Living Legacy Project Overview
WHYWhy is this project important? What difference will it make to you and to others? How do you want to feel about this project once it is completed?
HOW
WHATWhat will be the best way or ways to involve and share the project with others?
Action WHO WHEN Comments
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Future Legacy Legacy is something meaningful that outlasts us
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I believe the sun will still
come and the wind will still
blow 100 years from now.
My family members will still
need to have financial
resources to help them be
kind, educated people who
care about their family and
others.
--Matriarch’s legacy
statement in a generation
skipping trust
Future Legacy
The classic definition of legacy usually refers to property or money received from someone who has died. However, many powerful aspects of a legacy are nonfinancial, such as talents, values, wisdom and strong family stories. A lasting impact occurs when you find the right blend and formulate a long-term vision of the meaning you want to a pass on.
Who are you thinking about when you address the idea of your legacy?
What links you to the legacy of your ancestors? Do those places and things still exist today? What will link the next generations to you?
Why is legacy important to you?
What has your family legacy meant to you? How far out does your
long-term vision go?
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If you were to make your own family crest, what values and principals would you want to represent your family brand?
Are there values, skills and life lessons you want to share today?
What are your beliefs about the meaning of money? Do you want your heirs to know these beliefs? How would you encourage them to find their own meaning of money?
Do you have expectations regarding how financial assets are used? How will you communicate your expectations or advice?
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Take-Home Questions
Make a list of the non-financial aspects of the legacy you have inherited, including the source. Include values, skills, talents, wisdom, and basically anything that has meaning and significance in your life today that you feel comes from your parents and ancestors. Next, make a list of what you hope your heirs would name regarding you.
Inherited From Whom
How can you help heirs be wise with their financial inheritance? What are the basic skills you want them to have?
Will they know, should they know, where your wealth came from? How it was built, grown, protected and enjoyed?
What are the stories you want your heirs to remember? How can you make sure these stories pass on?
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Take-Home Questions
Future Legacy Intention and Plan
Part One: Purpose Statement
Part Two: Resources and TimelinesWho will join me, support and encourage me? What resources will I use? What resources do I need to find and gather?
Part Three: How I will judge progress?
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Legacy Project Overview
WHYWhy is this project important? What difference will it make to you and to others? How do you want to feel about this project once it is completed?
HOW
WHATWhat will be the best way or ways to share the project with others?
Action WHO WHEN Comments
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Websites With Information and Tips Tips on legacy interviewswww.Legacyproject.org
If you are working on a living legacy or future legacy project this website might be helpful. Second acts for greater goodwww.Encore.org
How to do family history interviews with sample questionshttp://www.caring.com/articles/family-history-interview-questionshttp://genealogy.about.com/cs/oralhistory/a/interview.htm
How to make a family crest – seems to be free and kind of fun.http://www.makeyourcoatofarms.com/
Family Video ProductionI did a search for family legacy video production and found dozens of companies with reasonably priced offerings, usually around $2000 for the complete package. I many come to the clients home some have a studio set up. It makes sense to find someone in your area. This is just one chosen at random.http://www.makealegacyvideo.com/
Videos To Share With ClientsThailand giving commercial http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tPJhy6d6eEMain Street Philanthropy:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbP5hzQx_Wkhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zSEQKlpklM
Legacy Topic Resources
Every year when I visit my cousins in Dubuque Iowa, I see the stone barn that my grandfather built in 1895. It makes me think about the long term affect of what we have accomplished during our lives, and could we have done better? And then these two thoughts bring me to "Why is legacy important for me... for you?" Start with the answer to "Why did you start your business?" Then add to that ten, twenty even thirty years of daily effort.
It has taken focus, diligence, awareness of the market, customers, changing workforce, production issues, constant experimentation with new products, and balancing financial forces to create the business strategy you now have. At some point you started thinking "What's next?" What do I do with this company and these people? I can't do this forever. And what is the point of all of this?As with my grandfather, our country's founders were in the same position. They started by dealing with the current moment and an intuition about what needed to be done. Then they built into the future. Just as you did, every time they had problems they got creative and solved it. They hoped their daily efforts were building something that would last. They understood that endurance is part of legacy. So is the deeper meaning in things we build that endure.
Legacy is about making an impact that is meaningful and outlasts us. If it's done well, generations later your efforts, creativity, insights, vision, values and wisdom make a valuable contribution to how people are able to live their lives. If those who benefit are your grandchildren and great grandchildren, that is wonderful. If the advantage includes your employees, stock holders, community, and maybe even your customers, that is truly amazing.
Why Is Legacy Important? And How to Achieve It
By Brad Smith
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Accomplishing a legacy that stretches beyond yearly profits takes several key pieces. First, holding a clearly defined long term vision of the results is a requirement. The second obvious part is doing today with enough skill that tomorrow is possible. The tough part is constantly linking today's actions and this year's initiatives with a five and ten year plan in mind. The almost impossible part is to have a 200 year vision/plan and effectively match that with the core values, systems, and processes for the time steps in between.
The problem spot for almost all legacies is implementation. This is where almost all legacies fall apart. What do you do to teach and inspire the next generation, so that they buy into the long term view through their daily actions that help to achieve and enforce that vision? Start with dialog about your values. Ask them how they define and live their values. Help them learn the daily skills. Always ask (because leadership development requires independent self-directed followers) what they see is possible and how they plan to accomplish that. Challenge them to grow.
Above all teach them the skills to invest with wisdom and wealth skills for the long term. After all, money is only a tool for our future, and the legacy we can leave is the meaning we have created with it. That is what my barn building grandfathers taught their grandsons, the long view and how learning, values and tools build legacy.Legacy: anything handed down from the past, as from an ancestor or predecessor: the legacy of ancient Rome.
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Why Is Legacy Important? And How to Achieve It
By Brad Smith
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If you want to be happy for an hour, take a nap
If you want to be happy for a day, go fishing
If you want to be happy for a month, get married
If you want to be happy for a year inherit a fortune
If you want to be happy for life, help someone else
Old Chinese Proverb
Our Deepest Fearby Marianne Williamson from A Return To Love: Reflections on the
Principles of A Course in Miracles
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fearis that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not ourdarkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I tobe brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who areyou not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does notserve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking sothat other people won't feel insecure around you. We are allmeant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifestthe glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's ineveryone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciouslygive other people permission to do the same. As we are liberatedfrom our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
Inspirations
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