We will each have a legacy. Something we leave behind after we are gone. Life is short, and we never know how much time we have left to impact the legacy that we will leave.

We all know this. But the older we get, the more we begin to understand just how fleeting life can be.

The more times we experience loss, especially unexpected loss, the more vivid the realization becomes.

We usually say we’ve experienced some kind of a “wake-up call”, which like alarms of all sorts, only works temporarily to alert us.

After a few weeks or months, the realization, and the urgency to truly live each day to its fullest begins to fade.

This doesn’t serve us. We need to avoid the temptation to tread water and postpone our dreams and aspirations.

We need to harness that urgency and propel all we’ve got into impacting our legacy.

In short, we need to make every single day count.

How to Live Our Legacy

So, first things first. What do we want our legacy to be? And how can we begin to live it, while we are still vibrant, alive, and energetic?

What Do I Want My Legacy to Be?

Understanding what we want our legacy to be sounds a little daunting. But it doesn’t have to be.

Let’s just start simple. An easy place to begin?

Simply choose 5 words that you want people to use to describe you.

The below list includes some ideas to inspire you:

Legacy Adjectives to Choose From

• Amazing, Admirable, Affectionate, Adventurous, Ambitious, Agreeable, Bold, Brave, Brilliant
• Caring, Considerate, Compassionate, Calm, Courteous, Creative, Diligent, Daring, Devoted, Disciplined
• Energetic, Enthusiastic, Empathetic, Fun, Forgiving, Fair, Funny
• Genuine, Generous, Grateful, Graceful, Giving, Happy, Hilarious, Honest, Helpful
• Intuitive, Interesting, Joyful, Kind, Loyal, Loving, Modest, Open
• Practical, Persistent, Peaceful, Positive, Respected, Rational, Realistic
• Smart, Sensitive, Silly, Successful, Sincere, Supportive, Tolerant, Talented, Thoughtful
• Unusual, Unique, Visionary, Warm, Wise, Wonderful, Zealous

Am I Living My Legacy Today?

Next, to bring ourselves back down to earth, we will want to identify 5 words that we think people might use to describe us today.

Needless to say, there will likely be some differences between the two lists!

But what a great eye opener – a wake-up call of a different sort.

What to Do with our Lists

You should have two lists of five words now. Let’s use these lists to process these thoughts:

• Check first: do any words appear on both lists? Well-done!
• Are there any missing from the second? More than likely – since most of us are works in progress.
• Pick a word that appears on the legacy list but does not appear on the second list. For example, let’s say I want to be remembered as “generous” but generous doesn’t appear on my second list.
• Set a personal development goal related to the missing word. In my example, to get the word ‘generous’ to begin to appear on my second list – I will want to begin to take actions that help generosity become more prominent in my life.
• If we use this approach for all 5 words – or the ones that are missing from list 2 – eventually, we will literally have impacted our legacy, simply by paying attention to a few key words.
• Because by doing this, we can begin to improve the likelihood that our daily life reflects our true priorities and values and aligns with the legacy we want to leave behind.
• What are the 5 words you choose to describe your legacy?
• What words would you add to this list?

Let’s Start to Live Our Lives to the Fullest

Share a comment and let us all know your thoughts.

We’re all imperfect works in progress, and all worthy of love, hope, affection and happiness.

Let’s work together to be our authentic selves as we begin to live our legacies, as we continue to remember, we are all so much more than enough.

If you enjoyed this article, please check out some of our other personal development and personal growth pieces.

There are hundreds to choose from! A few examples include:

Emotional Intelligence: The Personal Development Game Changer

How to Change Your Mindset: Personal Growth Strategies

A Guide to Goal Setting Guaranteed to Improve Results

Your Personal Mission Statement

Thank you as always for reading.

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KindCompassCoach

Joan Senio is the founder of KindCompassCoach. Her career includes 20+ years as a health care executive and 15 years (and counting) as a consultant. The common thread through Joan’s professional life has been a commitment to lead, mentor and coach current and future leaders, and women from all walks of life. KindCompassCoach provides information and advice grounded in Joan’s personal experience; however, all articles are backed by research and provide facts and advice from a wide variety of experts. Joan also serves as a thought-leader for KuelLife.com and is a regular contributor to PsychReg and Sixty and Me.