Legacy Series: The 10 Things That Can Last Past Your Lifetime - Part 1
What will your great-great-great grandchildren know about you?
It’s hard to imagine really. We’re talking about your children’s children’s children’s children’s children.
To put this in perspective, today I can’t even trace down my great-great-great grandfather because… slavery. But this will be a different story for the future generations.
I have been thinking about the future generations a lot. I wonder what they will find when they try to go back as far as they can to learn about the family. My hope, if I’m doing this right, is that I’ll be one of the names on the family tree that stands out. One that they are proud to be connected with.
I hope they have a sense of pride when they learn about the work I’ve done and how it has influenced them today.
Here’s the legacy question: What can I leave behind that will last 120 years so that the fourth generation after me will remember me and know a little bit about the man I was?
While doing this thought exercise, I’ve come up with a list of 10 items:
- Books
- Institutions or Businesses
- Art or Cultural Artifacts
- Photos
- Jewelry
- Family Traditions
- Land or Buildings
- Music
- Patents
- Stories
The good thing about legacy is that you don’t have to create all of these things yourself. You can inspire others to create some of these things because of the life you lived. MLK never wrote songs, but he’s remembered in music across multiple genres.
This list is the blueprint for my life.
This is how I plan to communicate with my future decedents long after I’m gone.
How to you plan to be remembered by future generations?