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The Cycles and Seasons of Life—Make Your Winters Count

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In our previous Wisdom Note, we continued our series called The Cycles and Seasons of Life, Be Prepared for Winter. This week we finish this 10 part series about the cycles and seasons of life, and our focus is making your winters count. If you miss any of our Wisdom Notes please go to the blog to read past newsletters.

To be successful in life, we must fully understand the laws of planting and harvesting. Realize also that during your lifetime, there will be many different cycles of seasons. Just because particular cycles of seasons did not produce the harvest you expected, don’t let that control future seasons, or the entirety of your life. This week on our Wisdom Notes, let us continue the winter season which must be a time for reflection and planning while each new spring season gives you an opportunity to start new again. This week’s trek is titled…

Make Your Winter Seasons Count

As we continue to ponder the winter seasons of life, you need to grasp that throughout all the seasons of the year, winter can touch your lives in many small ways, as if it were testing you and providing you with subtle reminders of the plight of those whose lives are surrounded by winter. Winter can be a lost opportunity or the loss of love. A winter is when a trusted friend gives you cause for disappointment when your children, young or old, make unwise decisions that will force them into a winter season, or even when expected business goes to a competitor. Like a frigid blast from the cold, harsh words of someone you love is winter, and so is the pessimism or cynicism from someone whose advice and counsel you seek.

The major challenge confronting those who seem to be in a perpetual winter is that they don’t prepare for the arrival of spring, and lack the ability to recognize that arrival. So that you don’t become like this yourself, you must be planning, learning, and preparing so that you become part of the solution rather than allowing yourself to remain part of the problem.

If you are currently without love, money, or employment, it is a winter, and its very appearance is because you’ve missed a springtime somewhere. Even if it was not your intention, neglect is always costly, and winter is merely a circumstance—an effect brought on by some earlier cause. Dwelling on the severity of your personal winter merely makes the winter more difficult to endure. You must search the inner confines of your mind and your soul for the purpose of discovering the real cause within you.

Adversity is seldom attributable to someone or something outside of ourselves. To blame outside influences for the circumstance of winter is a convenient excuse for misplacing your responsibility. It is the normal human tendency to place blame for a winter of life on someone else, which is why most humans harvest the result of mediocrity that accompanies such behavior.

For circumstances to change, your attitudes, opinions, and habits must change. Conversation on how circumstances ought to be or on why situations aren’t fair is just that conversation! Unproductive conversation is what the lazy and unambitious engage in during the winters of life, for there is a certain euphoria that such empty conversation produces which dulls the senses from the harsh reality of how circumstances really are. The same euphoria is found on television and the internet. It will get you all worked up but does not provide a solution to your winter seasons. It is so easy to use it as an attempt to escape from an empty life. Since this will not solve the issues, many turn to alcohol and other drugs, seeking solutions in external means. Others turn to idle gossip, which allows those who engage in it to overlook their own weaknesses by attacking the weaknesses of others.

Instead, let winter find you planning for the arrival of spring, not contemplating the errors of commission and omission of last year. Let winter find you with a joyful countenance and a happy heart. Even if your winter is still dark and cold currently, share a good word for all those around you. Do it with confidence in the future, not apprehension; with an appreciation of the past, not regret; and finally, with gratitude for your achievements, adversities, and uncertainties of life, for each is a form of blessing that removes all limitations from the future possibilities of life.

Winter is a time for examining, pondering, and reflecting. It is a time for re-evaluating both purpose and procedure, for rediscovering an often misplaced sense of purpose. It is a time for finding new ways of solving old dilemmas and for devising unique plans for contributing to others less fortunate than yourself. It is a time for understanding and controlling anger, that frequent human emotion which causes us to pass judgment without fair deliberation. It is a time to analyze your fairness and to overcome your tendency to hastily spew out condemnation without a full investigation, which is the height of ignorance.

Winter is a time for being sincere with yourself and about yourself when the tendency is to fool yourself. It is a time for developing the skills that allow you to get along with imperfect people, for even a fool can get along with perfect people. It is also a time for becoming wise enough to know what to say, as well as to know what to overlook and what not to say.

The wisdom that comes with the careful use of winter teaches you also that evolution is merely revolution at a slower pace and that constant gradual change is the order of God’s universe. Only those worthy human attributes of honesty, loyalty, love, and trust in God and in your fellow humans are meant to remain constant. Winter is a time for being grateful for your achievements or for having endured your lack of achievement.

The physically inactive season of winter is a time for adding to your storehouse of knowledge through continued education, which in truth does not mean learning things that you do not know but in learning to behave as you do not now behave. The facts and things of life are automatically learned when you become inspired with the excitement of high expectations and belief in your own abilities.

With winter comes the opportunity to catch up on unkempt promises and on unanswered letters. It is a time also for encouraging the young, who with their inexperience are insecure, and for encouraging the old, whom because of their experience are apprehensive of the future. Let not a winter go by without investing much of your time in assuring, teaching, and encouraging others. For in so doing, your reward will be an uplifted confidence in yourself; the teacher is always the greatest recipient of the lessons he seeks to teach to others. Let winter find you thinking first of someone else, appreciating, being kind, and being gentle. And by all means, let winter find you laughing more, even though the winds blow cold and the snows cover the soil which will soon bring new life.

Someone once said, “Don’t pray for things to be easier, rather, pray for more obstacles and more challenges, for it is out of these that man’s character and will to succeed are formed.” Nearly every success story that I am aware of began when the person first lay flat on his mental and financial back. In this condition, people usually become sufficiently disgusted to reach deep down inside and pull out talent, ability, desire, and determination, which are the basic essentials required of anyone wishing to free themselves from the winters of life. It is in the face of adversity that circumstances begin to change, and the circumstances always change as a result of the personal change that takes place.

I have discovered that circumstances never change by themselves. It’s when a human with sufficient disgust, desire, and determination to change his life finally steps up and shouts for all the world to hear, “I have had it with defeat and humiliation, and I will tolerate it no longer.” That is when time, fate, and circumstances call a hasty conference, and all three wearily agree, “We had best step aside because we are powerless to stop that kind of resolve.” Unfortunately, the masses of people don’t change, they wait for circumstances to change, blaming others or blaming circumstances for their meager progress. They accept defeat as though it was God’s design for humanity to wallow in pools of defeat and self-pity.

It is in the face of adversity that circumstances begin to change

The fact is, life is going to continue, even though you may now be defeated. The world will wake up tomorrow just as it did today, and events will continue to unfold with repeated regularity of God’s creation. Your role of present failure, or success, is a temporary condition. You can rebound from failure as surely as you gravitated into failure. The condition of any person who feels defeated and ashamed is being repeated by thousands of humans around the world at this same moment in time. You must bring to mind the phrase, “This too shall pass” each time you are tempted to think you have accepted all the negativity and failure that your life could tolerate.

For everyone who is mentally, spiritually, and financially exhausted, a few will grasp for a new beginning. When they find it, they will pull themselves to their feet and move back into the world. It is then that they will not only do well, but leave their mark indelibly impressed upon the spiritual, business, political, or social world. They will be written about, talked about, and examined by their peers in numerous ways. The world will then pass judgment upon them as being “lucky” in some way and will be unaware of the agony and loneliness that each one experienced before he or she began his or her march upward toward accomplishment.

So, foolish as it may sound, thank God for your present limitations or failure if that should be the case, for you now occupy a status from which nearly all success stories originate. You can go where you want to go, do what you want to do, and become what you want to become, right from where you are today.

Over the time of recorded history, millions who were in abject poverty, had significant handicaps, or had failed many times chose through faith and hope that they would not remain in that circumstance. We can think of Longfellow, Michelangelo, Lincoln, George Washington Carver, Ford, Disney, and many others.

So be grateful for your adversity for it is the seed that you can now plant in the spring seasons of life for your own better future. The world will willingly stand by and let you feel sorry for yourself until you finally die, broke and alone, if that’s what you desire. It will also stand aside for you once you firmly decide that your present winter season is only temporary and that you will get back up and go on to make your impact on your world. The fact is, the world doesn’t really have time to care which choice you make, so for yourself at least, give a run at adventure with your eyes firmly set on achievement, not merely existence and self-pity.

From this moment on, and for what remains of the balance of your life, make your commitment to excellence, remembering that it is your challenge to succeed. After all, you only have one life! Do something remarkable!

We have now completed our ten-part series of the Cycles and Seasons of Life. Let us commit to living effectively during each season. In our next Wisdom Note, we will explore finding your motivation. Encourage your friends and family to join us on our 5-days a week podcast: Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy.

The Cycles and Seasons of Life—The Celebration of Fall

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In our previous Wisdom Note, we continued our series called The Cycles and Seasons of Life, The Growth of Summer. This week we continue with moving onto the celebration of fall. If you miss any of our Wisdom Notes please go to the blog to read past newsletters.

With each season of life, our focus and priorities will change. We need to be flexible and willing to make those changes. Life rarely turns out how we expected and is based on the accumulation of all the decisions we have made in our lives up until now. The key to living a rich and satisfying life is to make wise decisions and then choose to enjoy life even if it is different than we expected.

What you plant in the spring season of life and then nurture during the summer season of life is what you will harvest in the fall season of life. So plant and nurture wisely, so your harvest will be fruitful and in abundance. Realize also that during your lifetime, there will be many different cycles of seasons. Just because a particular season did not turn out as you expected, don’t let that control the entirety of your life. Each winter season is a time for reflection and planning while each new spring season gives you an opportunity to start new again.

This brings us to our trek for this week as we consider moving from summer to fall within the cycles and seasons of life. This section of our trek is titled…

The Celebration of Fall

I would like to start off our trek this week with a quote from Lin Yutang who explained the seasons of life in this way, “I like spring, but it is too young. I like summer, but it is too proud. So I like fall best of all, because its leaves are a little yellow, its tone mellower, its colors richer, and it is tinged a little with sorrow… Its golden riches speak not of the innocence of spring, nor of the power of summer, but of the mellowness and kingly wisdom of approaching age. It knows the limitations of life and is content.”

I have to admit that I am approaching my fall of life, and I find this quote to be so true. As I mature, it is easier to see the richness of life but also some of the limitations of life. With this knowledge, I can be content with life how it is, not necessarily how I expected it to be.

Fall is a time for celebration as well as a time for a searching of the conscience. If you planted abundantly in the spring and fought against the insects, weeds, and weather of summer, fall can bring rewards that will give you cause for rejoicing.

On the other hand, if you watched both the arrival and departure of spring and made little effort to take advantage of its almost momentary tenure, fall can be a time of turmoil, a time of anxiety, and a time of great regret.

It is in the fall when you discover how long or short the winter will be. The fall tells you if you have really done that which is required, or if you have fooled yourself through the temporary anesthetizing of conversation and pretense of telling yourself you have worked enough when you haven’t.

Although the following truths are difficult to accept at times, you must take responsibility for your harvest during the fall. The soil and the arrival of fall together occupy the seat of judgment, which presents the final truth of your effort. There can be no disputing its final verdict, for the evidence of your toil, care, and patience is indisputable. Either the crops are bountiful, or they are not. If not, you need to look no further than to the hands of those who were charged with responsibility last spring. The excuses of poor soil, poor seed, or bad weather are better left unsaid.

Nothing is more exciting than a bountiful harvest and nothing more dreadful than a barren field in the fall. So it is as you are given the responsibility for planting the crops of your field, and so it is also when you are given the responsibilities of your life and success in every area. An unproductive and meager result in the season reserved for harvesting makes confession of your own past failures both difficult and necessary.

An empty bank account is a sign of a past ineffective effort. It is a sign of a missed opportunity. It is a sign of too much procrastination or laziness or spending on non-essential luxuries. The principles and laws found in God’s Word are faultless. This applies equally well to the farmer, to the business person, and to the individual. Just like the law of gravity is a universal law, there is a law of God that is equally applied to all things and all people, regardless of personal belief. This law has endured since the creation of the world, and for that long, humans have sought to circumvent it, or argue with it, and even to ignore it. In the end, your results demonstrate if you have obeyed or disobeyed its orders. The law is simple and known to all. The law is found in Galatians 6:7, “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.” This law is universal in both the spiritual and natural worlds.

In all areas of the human existence, be aware that what you put into this world, you get back from it. It is God’s principle and has a way of leveling the field. Your thoughts and actions determine your results, your lifestyle, and your attitude. Lies, sooner or later, attract lies in return. Finding an easier way at the expense of quality will take its inevitable toll in decreased results whether that be in profits or in sleepless nights, or both. All effort, whether it is how you treat others personally or in the business world, be it service, marketing, recruiting, or products must bring good to all those who are involved, or the effort will not withstand the final test of time.

Corn planted in the spring will produce corn in the fall, as will wheat, barley, or melons produce after their own kind. You cannot plant one crop and expect to harvest another just because you change your mind during mid-summer.

While there may be temporary exceptions to this, it is a tendency of humans to look at those who enjoy success as having been, at some earlier time, either lucky or dishonest. Surely, the man driving the luxury car toward his expensive home on the hill could not deserve it through hard work and sacrifice.

Such is the language of the poor. For the fortunate man with the car and the house on the hill, these are crops given to him in his fall of the business season, as just rewards for efforts expended during an earlier springtime of his life. This may be the same springtime during which those who now condemn the man possibly sat back and laughed, or fished, or told stories. This is the folly of humans.

Those who condemn the successful man or woman for their apparent good fortune or dishonesty are unaware of the price often paid for success. They cannot see the massive disappointments, the shattered hopes, or the broken dreams. They do not understand the risks incurred in both raising and investing capital for an idea yet unproven. They do not see the legal involvements, the tax burdens, the challenges of labor, or the restraining governmental regulations. Nor do they appreciate the family dissent that seems to automatically accompany the pursuit of success. Those who condemn see and scorn the result, being unaware of the cost as well as the cause that produced the success.

In the fall, we either enjoy, or we excuse. For those who failed to take full advantage of the spring, who failed to guard their crops carefully throughout the heat of summer, there can be no legitimate reasons, only excuses, and excuses are merely apologetic attempts to place blame on circumstances rather than on ourselves.

The difference between an inadequate apartment and a mansion on the hill is the same as the difference between average effort in the spring and massive effort in the spring. Nature always promises that a cup produces a bushel, that we will receive more than we plant. Knowing this, as all of us do, we forget that to reap many bushels, which is the measure of success, we still must plant many cups. Massive action in the spring of life is still the requirement for massive success in the fall. Forty hours a week invested in the fields of opportunity may not be enough, especially if it is invested in the wrong field. Sometimes, to improve your results, you must make the painful admission that your present field is too rocky, or thorny, or that the fertile soil is too shallow. And while there is great difficulty involved in changing one field for another more fertile field, that difficulty is insignificant compared to the ultimate difficulty that comes from not changing.

The truths of the fall season are difficult for us to accept. I also struggle with these concepts, even though they are universally true. I realize that there may be overriding exceptions, but we cannot allow that to be an excuse for a meager harvest.

We all know of those who have overcome massive mountains of opposition to produce a bountiful harvest in their lives. It is my prayer that all of us, including myself, will take to heart, consider, and understand these truths. The immutable laws of planting and harvesting are set by God and cannot be changed or violated any more than we can override the law of gravity. When you grasp this concept, then you can direct and achieve a rich and satisfying life that Jesus offers in John.

The Cycles and Seasons of Life

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In our previous Wisdom Note, I encouraged you to slow down and take life at the speed of average. Today, we are beginning a series of Wisdom Notes about the cycles and seasons of life, and specifically, taking responsibility. If you miss any of our Wisdom Notes please go to the blog to read past newsletters.

In many parts of the east coast of the US, it is time for the emergence of the 17-year cicadas. The noise that they make is truly mesmerizing. Their life cycle is very interesting as they occupy nearly all of the 17 years as grubs that burrow deep into the ground just waiting for the time to emerge. When they emerge from their rest, they break out of their shells, unfurl their wings, and are on the hunt for a mate. The females lay their eggs in soft branches of the trees, and when they hatch the grubs fall to the ground burrow deep in the earth and wait for another 17 years. Many do not make it due to birds, weather, and numerous other perils. That is their life-cycle, and each stage is a season of life for them.

Although our lives should last much longer and have more apparent significance than the cicada, we also experience distinct seasons in our lives. God has designed a purpose for the cicada, even if we may not understand it. God has a much greater purpose for our lives since we are made in His image. Let us philosophize a bit today and explore some of the seasons of life that we go through and how our decisions impact those seasons.

The Cycles and Seasons of Life – Take Responsibility

John Kennedy once remarked that Winston Churchill “mobilized the English language and sent it into battle.” Past generations have heard the stirring words of Cicero, Daniel Webster, Disraeli, Churchill, and Kennedy. These men were touched by their Creator with the gift of changing the course of human history and the quality of the individual life through their well-spoken words. It is with the words in this week’s Wisdom Notes if applied, your life will transform  to one of living on purpose and with purpose.

For six thousand years of recorded history, humans have entered this world. They received parental instruction, classroom instruction, and gathered the experience of life. Many have set ambitious goals for themselves and dreamed lofty dreams, but upon the day that they draw their last breath have left little behind as evidence of their existence other than a birth certificate, grave marker, and nearly a million dollars in goods and services consumed between their humble beginnings and uneventful end.

Books have been written on the subject of human achievement. Seminars and webinars are conducted on how to find success. And those who have met with and embraced success willingly share their ideas and insights with all those who will listen.

For some, worldly riches are gained at the price of lost friends and broken families. For others, fortune remains forever elusive while families remain precariously intact. For most, we remain forever in one of two categories—either poor, seeking to become wealthy or wealthy, always seeking to rediscover the happiness we had while we were poor. This is certainly not a new phenomenon as King Solomon wrote in the book of Ecclesiastes 1:9-11, “History merely repeats itself. It has all been done before. Nothing under the sun is truly new. Sometimes people say, ‘Here is something new!’ But actually it is old; nothing is ever truly new. We don’t remember what happened in the past, and in future generations, no one will remember what we are doing now.”

This series of Wisdom Notes are a condensation of ideas and observations gained over a period of six-plus decades – both mine and what I learned from Jim Rohn and others. I will attempt to place life, its events, purpose, opportunities, and challenges into perspective. It is not intended to be an instructional treatise on either how to achieve success or how to avoid failure. If life were to hold such precise answers to age-old questions, surely their discovery would be history and each of us would now be living to enjoy our success. In truth, what is the formula for success for one will lead to the self-destruction of another. As certainly as our Creator made us individually unique, He also preserves for each of us individually unique answers to the challenges of life.

It is the purpose of this Wisdom Notes series over the next few weeks to awaken within each of us the storehouse of inspiration and answers that lie dormant, where they have been since being placed there at conception by our Creator and now reside within the hearts and minds of each of us.

On our trek through life, let us seek to discover our own individual answers to our own individual challenges by exploring the cycles and seasons of life.

The Effect of Environment on Circumstances

All of us, whether rich or poor, young or old, educated or not so educated, are the sum total of all of those people and events that have touched and nurtured us since first entering this world, or as we now know, even since our conception. Every thought that we have allowed to permeate our minds has had its impact on what we now are. Every person that we have met has had his or her impact on us. Every movie we’ve watched has had its impact. Every book or magazine we’ve read has had its impact. Every TV show has had its impact. Every podcast that we listen to has an impact. Every disappointment, triumph, doubt, dream, and love for someone each has had its impact. What we are and what we have is a result of what we slowly brought upon ourselves. It is the human tendency to blame someone or something else for our lack of progress or seeming failure — we blame family members, government, competitors, managers, economic conditions, pay schedules, some malady or condition, and even the traffic and weather for our circumstances.

Each person, circumstance, or event that left its mark — whether favorable or unfavorable — is now behind you. What happened even as recently as yesterday is no longer of any consequence unless you choose to allow it to be. What is of great importance is who and what it is that leaves its mark today and each day after that. What you have been in the past is an established and unchangeable fact.

What you can be in the future is an unlimited, boundless opportunity. Therefore, do not allow your awareness of past difficulties or failures to adversely affect your current and future possibilities. The greatest value of the past is how wisely you invest it in the future. You are free from the past, not a slave to it. Let the past be your servant for making the future both more rich and satisfying.

If you seriously accept that you deserve and will one day achieve financial freedom, then break off the “rearview mirror” of your life and concentrate on what lies ahead. Begin your quest for achievement by taking a close inventory of the people and circumstances that today touch your life, for it is their impact that will determine what lies ahead for you. To draw on my farming background I will use this analogy…The people, circumstances, and other influences that are in your life now will determine the size of your crop when harvest time comes next fall.

We have only traveled a few paces on our journey this week, and there is much to consider. We will continue this trail in our next Wisdom Note, so don’t miss it. Encourage your friends and family to join us on our 5-day a week podcast: Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy.

Creating, Living, and Leaving Your Legacy

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In our previous Wisdom Note, we explored 8 life lessons from hiking hard trails. This week we will focus on your legacy by creating, living, and leaving your legacy. If you miss any of our Wisdom Notes, please go to the blog to read past newsletters.

The Big House is part of our family legacy. It is the family homestead and very meaningful to all family members. We are blessed to be caretakers of the place. Legacy should be important in each of our lives. That is why this week we will focus on creating, living, and leaving your legacy.

One indisputable fact of life is that, at some point, we are all going to die. None of us is guaranteed another breath, let alone tomorrow or many years. Many people don’t like to think about it, let alone plan for it. Think for a moment if you would, what would you like your obituary to say? How you lived your legacy each day and the impact that you made on others through your time, talent, and treasures is what truly remains when you die and will impact all of eternity.

Creating and living your legacy during your life should be solely to benefit future generations. The full impact is something you will never see come to fruition. Just like a farmer who plants an apple tree, knowing he may never live to taste its fruits, living our legacy is a gift whose impact you will leave behind without expecting anything in return.

Just like that farmer’s sprouting tree, living legacies don’t happen overnight—and they don’t happen by accident. They’re deliberately crafted over years of wise choices, hard work, and dedication. This certainly does not require that all your resources be forfeited while you are still alive, but it does require a mind-shift. You have to understand that you are not really the owner of your God-given time, talents, and treasures but caretakers or stewards of them for as long as you are alive. There are some basic principles that are important in fulfilling your role as a steward.

1. Understand Your Legacy

First, you need to really grasp why it’s important to live and leave a legacy in the first place. To paraphrase one of my virtual mentors Jim Rohn, “The legacy we first live and then leave is part of the ongoing foundation of life. Those who came before impacted our lives and leave us the world we live in. Those who will come after will have only our impact on them and what we leave them. We are stewards of this world, and we have a calling in our lives to positively impact the lives of others and leave the world better than how we found it, even if it seems like our impact is small.”

2. Choose Your Legacy

Living a legacy comes in different shapes and forms, requiring varying levels of effort and commitment. You may have the resources to leave substantial financial legacies to companies or organizations that will impact the world. As you create and live your legacy, hone in on where you can have the greatest impact and choose to focus in those areas.

Legacy is much more than leaving resources to an organization. Leadership expert John Maxwell summed it up this way, “Too often, leaders put their energy into organizations, buildings, systems, or other lifeless objects, but only people live on after we are gone. Everything else is temporary.”

Dr. Ken Dychtwald determined that, “There is an enormous desire for people, especially when they are older, to share what they’ve learned, to pass on lessons of a lifetime, to teach, and to feel that their life experience is being invested, even planted, into the field of tomorrow.” Interesting is that there is also a natural, innate appetite on the part of younger generations to receive this legacy.

3. Focus Your Legacy

Granted, conveying the accumulated lessons of a lifetime is easier said than done. In deciding exactly what you want to put out into the world, look inward first.

Start by identifying your strengths. The most obvious place to look is your career or life experiences. You are trained to think of your skills and talents as what you do at work, but if you think of them as core strengths instead, you can begin to see how they are more widely applicable. You can live your legacy of impact through your strengths. Living your legacy should be a labor of love, not a chore. It should be that natural part of you that shines out because it is who you are.

This statement is important because it not only sets the direction for your life but it also determines the impact of your living legacy and the impact of you will leave throughout eternity. It is part of your daily trek.

Our living legacy should be an example to others to follow as we imitate God as is mentioned in Ephesians 5:1-2, “Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children. Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God.”

4. Live Your Legacy

Now that you have a plan of action, it’s time to implement it. You will need to answer this question, “What must you change in the way you conduct yourself so that you live that legacy?” Your list may include behavioral changes, character development, education, working methods, relationship-building style, and other crucial elements. By changing the way you live, you will be able to create and live the legacy you want to leave for the world each day.

By changing the way you live, you will be able to create and live the legacy you want to leave for the world each day.

We all experience seasons of life and by living your legacy each day, your actions will be leaving a legacy. This action can be compared to passing the baton in a relay race. If you’ve ever watched a relay race, the most important moment of the race is the passing of the baton. The art of handing off that baton is quite spectacular when it’s done well. In western society, we don’t put that much credence on sitting at the feet of our elders and allowing them to transfer to us the legacy of their lives. I think that’s a great loss, and one of my passions is to change this through our daily Wisdom-Trek podcast.

Even if you don’t consider yourself an elder, if you have anyone who is being impacted by you, then you are the baton-passer. If you are a young father with children, prepare them for the race, and be ready to pass the baton when appropriate. Practicing passing the baton is something that occurs little by little each day. Some day we will all take on the role of the elder, or you could say the “baton-passer.” Who will be your recipient? Who will you invite to sit at your feet?

Picture your life and the people in it as a succession of increasingly larger rings reaching out from a center point, which is you! Now think about how you can impact your legacy upon the people of those rings, starting with your family. Both your actions and words are your living legacy.

You will leave a legacy behind for your children and younger family members, so make sure that you lead by example as well as by what you say. As they grow older, these younger generations will likely seek your wisdom and want to hear about your life experiences. Live in such a way that your experiences will be worth sharing and then share the lessons that have meant the most to you.

Back to the analogy of the rings. For many, the next ring outward is one’s primary occupation. Think about whom you could mentor in your work environment and how you might do that. Which of your core strengths could benefit others in their pursuit of a successful and meaningful life? As you get to know and work with others, where do you see the unrealized potential, and how can you help them unleash it?

Many might think that today’s cutthroat business environment isn’t the place for cultivating such relationships. I look at it differently. The very soul of a free society and economy, at its heart, has an enormously generous spirit. We are starting to see a resurgence of the idea that business shouldn’t solely be about profit-making but contributing to people’s lives in a meaningful way. I realize there is certainly room for improvement.

The culture of work has largely become fragmented by people trying to serve their own needs and short-term loyalties. There is a great need for you to live your legacy, which will bring a positive impact with your work team.

There is a great need for you to live your legacy, which will bring a positive impact with your work team.

The next circle out in our analogy of those persons that are impacted by our living legacy are those you may not know well personally. This may take you out of your comfort zone, but your life can still impact them either directly or through others that you are impacting. Your living legacy will ripple through eternity.

You have experience and knowledge that others do not. Through living your legacy, as you share, you will help others in areas of their lives that you cannot even imagine. It is rewarding to see that “lightbulb” moment, illuminating the lives of generations to come, helping them navigate the road ahead. What’s the purpose of having 60, 80, 100 years of life unless we are willing to positively impact the lives of others?

It brings no value to others to have an enormous wealth of experiences if you do not share it. You must invest your time, talent, and treasures to teach and to give it back. Who you really are in life is what survives you in death. That’s really a very different sort of concept. You need to step out of this moment in time and think about yourself in the chain of life from generation to generation. Then you need to take the steps necessary to make something of yourself and to share it so that your life will have an eternal impact.

Regardless of whether your wealth is money or experience 1 Timothy 6:17-19 gives us a great pattern to follow, “Teach those who are rich in this world not to be proud and not to trust in their money, which is so unreliable. Their trust should be in God, who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment. Tell them to use their money to do good. They should be rich in good works and generous to those in need, always being ready to share with others. By doing this they will be storing up their treasure as a good foundation for the future so that they may experience true life.”

Today we learned much about creating, living, and leaving your legacy. Next, we will begin the study of life-planning. Encourage your friends and family to join us on our 5-days a week podcast: Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy.

The 10 Laws of a Living Legacy

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In our previous Wisdom Note, we learned the five essential elements of success. This week we will learn the ten laws of a living legacy. If you miss any of our Wisdom Notes please go to the blog to catch up on previous installments.

Just as the Law of Gravity is an unchangeable law, if you desire to create and leave a living legacy, there are certain laws that you must follow in order to be successful.

If you want to achieve your true potential in creating and living your legacy that you were called to, you must start by being aware of who you are. Living your legacy is an internal change that will manifest itself externally.

Here are 10 guidelines or laws to help you, whether you’re just beginning your legacy trek or are far up the trail. These laws may not have been handed down on stone tablets, but if you follow them, you’ll find that indeed you are living a positive legacy each day.

1. Be more concerned with your character than your reputation

Your reputation is just what other people think; your character is what you really are. To live your legacy, you will face challenges that require a choice between character and compromise; every time you choose character, you gain positive ground. Character is the core of a living legacy.

2. Be committed in all that you do

To effectively live your legacy you have to be committed, and true commitment starts in the heart. It inspires and impacts others; it shows them you have convictions. They will believe in you because you take responsibility, and you are committed to living your legacy.

3. Listen more than you speak

Communication is critical in order to positively impact others. People want to emulate someone they can understand or someone who listens. As you live your legacy, you should listen far more than you speak, and when you do speak, make sure your words are consistent with your actions and character.

4. Always show the best of who you are in everything you do

It’s easy to admire those who are highly competent, but most of us will never be considered superstars. To live your legacy by having integrity in all that you do is crucial. Cultivate the competence you need to show up every day, to keep improving, to get ahead of the game where you can, and to keep setting the bar higher. Never stop growing yourself.

5. Stand brave even in the face of fear

To effectively live your legacy each day your dedication to your purpose and principles must remain stronger than your desire to appease others. You must be able to stretch past your comfort zone, to stand strong, and to make an impact on the lives of others who need to see your strength. You need to do the right thing when everyone else is frightened and to step forward in a bold way. Consider this statement, which is stated on our website serves as our vision: together we will create a legacy of wisdom, we will seek out discernment and insights, we will boldly grow where few have chosen to grow before, and we will live long and prosper as a result.

6. Always live by your convictions

To live your legacy, you must be willing to stand for something. Strong convictions precede great actions, and it is our convictions that call us to act with integrity. For those of us to whom much has been given, much is required. How you act, what you say, how you treat others – your convictions build the trust that a living legacy requires.

7. Stay focused on consistent excellence

Focus and concentration let you accomplish much while making an impact. It’s a discipline that allows you to evaluate what’s in front of you and set priorities and to live your legacy with consistent excellence.

8. Have a clear purpose, vision, and mission

From grand accomplishments to the small mundane daily tasks, creating a living legacy requires clarity. When you have a clear sense of your vision, mission, and purpose, you will effectively and positively impact others. They will also clearly see the standard of measure from your life.

9. Continually seek knowledge and wisdom

Self-growth and a robust commitment to lifelong learning and obtainment of wisdom are the most effective tools you can have impacting others with your living legacy. To continue to grow you need to be constantly looking for ways to improve yourself so that you can help others improve through your positive impact on them. Never stop asking questions and stretch yourself. Stay teachable, curious, and open.

10. Honor others and know their importance

When you understand that living a legacy is all about relationships, you truly know the importance of living in a way that positively impacts, builds, and strengthens connections with those around you every day.

As you consider the 10 guidelines or laws for creating and living your legacy remember to make every action count. It’s the one thing that will take what we have just learned and effectively impact others with meaning and significance. Living your legacy each day means to make every action, every word, every moment, and every relationship count.

Let’s wrap up our trek today as we consider the words of the Apostle Paul in the letter to the church in Ephesus in Chapter 5:15-17, “So be careful how you live. Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise. Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days. Don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do.”

The 10 Laws of a Living Legacy provides us with the guidelines that we need to have a significant and positive impact on the lives of everyone that we meet. Next week on our trek, we will learn to be comfortable with discomfort. In addition to our weekly Wisdom Notes, encourage your friends and family to also join us on our daily podcast – Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy.