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Article • 10 min read
What Is Legacy Thinking?
Beginning with the end in mind.
By the Mind Tools Content Team
"The true meaning of life is to plant trees, under whose shade you do not expect to sit." – Nelson Henderson, Canadian pioneer
Many of us lead hectic lives. Time can often feel like it's passing us in a blur and flurry of activity. But when we do this, we can easily start to forget about our priorities and goals.
Just take a moment now to stop and reflect on the things you've achieved so far, as well as things you still want to achieve. Are you happy with your current position? Or do you feel you've wandered off-course slightly? What can you do to get back on track?
In this article, we'll explore how reflecting on your priorities, achievements and goals can help you to build a strong and lasting legacy.
How to Develop Legacy Thinking
People often think of a "legacy" in terms of money or property left in a will, or passed down through generations. But your legacy can also be a measure of your impact on other people: how they think, what they say, and what they do as a result of having known you.
With legacy thinking, you "start with the end in mind." You identify the long-term impact that you'd like to make, and then assess the changes that you need to put into place to reach that point.
This enables you to work toward your legacy throughout your life, rather than considering it only in retrospect. The approach is covered in one of the classic books on personal development, " The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change ."
Legacy thinking may sound similar to other forward-thinking approaches such as long-term focus and strategic planning , and it can influence them, but it is something quite different. Legacy thinking starts from a different perspective – the future – and defines success in terms of the difference you make to other people's lives.
The Benefits of Legacy Thinking
Perhaps the most important benefit of legacy thinking is that it can help to bring purpose to your work, and place the actions you take today in a wider context. Chances are, the knowledge that you're building something to last will make you more focused, motivated, empowered, and satisfied.
Legacy thinking can also help you to be a positive role model , and to encourage others to consider their own legacies. In short, it can help you to fulfill your potential, and to become a better leader.
It can also support fundamental business needs – such as succession planning , which enables you to influence your company's success long into the future. And make you a more effective manager by helping you to reflect on your decision-making, and ensuring that your actions reflect your priorities .
How to Use Legacy Thinking
The desire to build a lasting legacy can drive you to achieve something meaningful. So, let's look at five steps that you can take to work toward it.
1. Start Right Away
It takes time to build a legacy, so start now! The sooner you begin, the more time you'll have to craft your legacy, and the longer you'll have to align your actions with your aims. You can explore strategies for creating positive changes in your role with our article, Job Crafting .
2. Reflect on the Difference You Want to Make
Next, think deeply about the kind of difference that you want to make to people. An effective technique (though it may seem slightly morbid!) is to draft your own eulogy – essentially a speech in praise of yourself and your achievements.
Write it in a lighthearted, upbeat style, and include the things that you hope your colleagues would say about you after you're gone. If this is a little too much visualization for your liking, you could just try asking yourself the following questions:
- What values, beliefs, behaviors, strengths, or traits would I like colleagues/people/customers to remember me for?
- What knowledge/skills would I like to pass on?
- What behaviors do I encourage in other people?
- What do the people around me need? How can I serve them?
Another useful tip is to think about the inspiration that you could draw from your predecessors' actions, and what you'd like to build on. Research suggests that the values we are left as a legacy are often more influential than other types of legacy, such as biological or material. [1]
Ask friends, family or colleagues to explain how your past behavior has affected them. Other people can often see our strengths more clearly than we can ourselves. So this can help you to see yourself from a different perspective that you've perhaps not considered before. For more ideas to help you reflect, see our articles on Finding Your Unique Strengths and Psychometric Testing , and How Good Are Your People Skills?
3. Write a Legacy Statement
Next, write a formal "legacy statement." This is your declaration of intent. It specifies your long-term aspirations and how you want to be remembered.
Begin by assessing the themes that you've identified through your reflections. They should be aspirational, achievable, and reflect the things that matter most to you. Discard any that don't really enthuse you, or that you don't wholeheartedly believe in.
Then, present the remaining ideas in a way that clearly shows why they are important to you. Do this in any way you see fit. It could be an essay, a list of single words, short phrases, short stories, pictures, pictograms, or diagrams, for example.
You may want to set a limit on the time it takes you to make an impression on those around you. Studies show that, on average, non-public sector employees in the U.S. stay in their jobs for just over four years, so setting yourself a deadline can help you to do something that's both meaningful and achievable. You don't have to look decades into the future. [2]
Ask people who know you well for feedback on your legacy statement. They can help you to "raise your sights" if the aspirations on your legacy statement are too modest, or encourage you to rethink objectives that may be out of reach. They can also tell you how closely your statement reflects who you are.
Keep your legacy document in a place where you'll see it often. Creating a Treasure Map is a good way to keep your aims visible, as it represents an easily accessible and clear representation of the path you need to take to achieve your goals.
4. Live Your Legacy
To build a legacy, you need to start making a difference to the people around you straight away. But, if the legacy that you're "seeding" now isn't the kind that you want to leave, be sure to start aligning your behavior with your aims. Consider what may need to change about your leadership style, your behavior, your working methods, and so on.
Servant leaders (those who focus on the needs of others first, before considering their own) leave the strongest legacies, so consider what you can do to serve those around you. [3] Supporting people to achieve their goals is one way you can do this. You can also do it by fostering a sense of community within your team, by mentoring your team members, or simply by providing inspiration.
5. Conduct "Legacy Audits"
Even with careful planning, your legacy-building will probably remain fragile, at least initially, and it's easy to get blown off course by everyday demands and short-term crises. Inattention and inaction, or attempting to be something that you're not , can endanger everything that you're trying to build.
So, it's important to conduct occasional "legacy audits." Check in with the people around you – they can help you to judge your progress. Then, develop resilience and use positive thinking to keep you on track.
Leaving a strong and positive legacy behind is a great way of achieving a long-lasting impact on the people around you. Thinking about and working toward building your own legacy can also improve your leadership skills, support your organization's succession plans, and boost your own satisfaction levels and sense of achievement.
You can work toward building your own positive and long-lasting legacy by following these five steps:
- Start right away.
- Reflect on the difference you want to make.
- Write a legacy statement.
- Live your legacy.
- Conduct "legacy audits."
[1] Hunter, E.G. and Rowles, G.D. (2005). Leaving a Legacy: Toward a Typology, Journal of Aging Studies , 19(3), 327-347. Available here .
[2] Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2022). Employee Tenure in 2022 [online]. Available here .
[3] Greenleaf, R.K. (1970). ' The Servant as a Leader ,' Robert K. Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership. Available here .
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3. Write a Legacy Statement. Next, write a formal "legacy statement." This is your declaration of intent. It specifies your long-term aspirations and how you want to be remembered. Begin by assessing the themes that you've identified through your reflections. They should be aspirational, achievable, and reflect the things that matter most to you.