In 1994 the book First Things First: To Live, to Love, to Learn, to Leave a Legacy by Stephen R. Covey, A. Roger Merrill, Rebecca R. Merrill was published.
It suggests to us to balance all the elements of our lives. The part I like the best is “to leave a legacy”. That is to leave something behind, not just when you are no longer part of this great planet of ours, but even when you move from job to job, inside your current organisation or outside to a new organisation.
I am sure we all want to be remembered for the right reasons! And whilst we can’t all be Nobel laureates we can make a difference in our own special way. I wrote in an earlier post about being known as a doer.
So if you are of a mind to leave something when you move on then it is good to put a simple plan together. Remeber every plan has three basic components; objectives, strategies and actions.
Objectives – your mission, goal and outome(s) you seek to achieve – measurable and achievable
Strategies – what you broad approach will be to achieving your goal, your tactics and the enabling components/partnerhsips/communications needed
Actions – the distinct steps you will take to make it happen , these are yes/no testable
You can get it down on a simple one page word or excel document. Fill it in, place it in an envelope and date the outside. Leave it in your desk draw and then open it up in twelve months time and review and adjust.
So remember you need to:
Live – live life to the fullest extent possible
Love – love others and be loved
Learn – seek new ideas, information and discard your paradigms
Leave a Legacy – be remembered when you are gone ……………….
At Group Strategy we are passionate about helping individuals and companies to generate superior results, to have them leave a legacy. It is just a part of what we do.
Derek Lark 