What's Your Legacy Going to Be?
The balancing act of starting -- and leaving -- a legacy in a system that wants you to stay mediocre.
“I don’t want to die living a mediocre life.”
These were the vulnerable, honest words shared by a client during a group coaching session last year.
Can you relate?
Especially this week after a shocking election result where status quo and going backwards won?
There is SO much work to do and YOU are the one who must do it.
Existential anxiety is a real fear for many of us as we age. We want to make a difference. We want to be known for our talents and skills. We want to be doing work that we’re proud of and feel good about. We want a life of meaning and impact.
And yet, far too often, despite what we truly want in our lives, we are held back by obstacles such as:
- Life circumstances and health needs
- Survival mode and paying the bills
- Needing to feel safe and secure
- Fear of change and life disruption
It’s easy to think the life you want is slow and filled with ease and comfort and rest.
Because when it’s all said and done, we’re simply out of time and energy and want to reject hustle culture once and for all, collapse on the couch and zone out watching the latest show we’re binging on.
But hustle culture is not the same thing as doing brave, changemaker work.
Braving YES is about leaving a legacy that you’re proud of .. and that can be done while centered in a life of mediocrity.
My client who was afraid of dying mediocre has since finished writing and illustrating her first book which is now in its editing stages and will soon be published and she’ll selling it worldwide.
To get her to this point, she needed to restructure her priorities.
Human beings trapped in mediocrity against their will almost always have to restructure three things:
The way you use and value your time and daily structure
The way you see and value your own worth and ideas
The way you make space for the important vs. the urgent
Doing “brave work” — as I define it is anything that feels like a risk toward greater life alignment — leaves a legacy that far outweighs a life of ease.
Good trouble isn’t easy. (Thank you, John Lewis, for that great phrase!)
Brave work isn’t effortless.
Leaving a legacy won’t likely happen laying on the couch.
As a culture, we have a society and system that is obsessed with reminding us that we crave comfort. We will spend great amounts of money to maintain our current level of comfort — or to move into an even comfier place of ease and pleasure.
But, comfort is a privilege that is not afforded to all.
I think about this when I see a single mom carrying groceries AND her kiddos off a bus and needing to walk a few blocks home in the rain as I drive by in my warm, dry car.
Staying Comfortable is political safety, as is everything in our lives.
Pushing ourselves to our comfort’s edge and stepping — one toe at a time — into the unknown, the uncertain and the unsupported spaces of this life is political warfare and act of resistance.
SHAWN FINK
Those of us who can afford comfort should be trying to make life more comfortable for others — not trying to seek out more and more comfort.
Your comfort zone is where mediocrity lives, for sure.
Staying in your comfort zone upholds the status quo.
Feeling safe and secure is important — in fact it’s a basic need — but as thought leaders, creators and entrepreneurs, we know that powerful progress doesn’t happen in our comfort zones.
Your comfort zone is an important place to stop and rest and recover while you are doing hard things but it should not be where you remain forever.
If you want to leave a legacy for future generations or help rebuild the many broken and outdated systems we rely on then you’re going to need to start making waves of change within your industry, your community or in your business/workplace.
Waves of change can be small ripples.
And, they can be bigger, and breathtaking.
Or, they can be like a tsunami.
My work helps you embrace a Brave YES Mindset that centers rest and resilience AND encourages you to make an impact, leave a legacy and become known for your ideas, art or work.
>> What if you could feel comfortable and brave while striving for more respect in your industry?
>> What if you could feel empowered to take a big risk and put it all on the line?
>> What if you could still feel safe AND pursue your wildest dreams?
>> What if you chose to celebrate change instead of fear it?
There is nothing wrong with embracing a small, mediocre life AND honoring the fact that you are a brilliant, talented human being who deserves abundance and immense success and worthy of living out your desires.
My mission as a longtime coach for female creatives and multipossibilitarians who want to earn revenue for their passion work is to inspire you to feel brave enough to stretch for your greatest desires in life, business and work and in your creativity and fierce leadership. Stretches that bring joy, alignment and finally being able to do YOU.
There’s nothing mediocre about putting yourself out there and going for what you desire and deserve.
The only way you'll be mediocre is if you stay put and don't do anything at all.
This week’s Brave YES LAB experiment below includes a fun coaching exercise that will help you restructure your priorities for your greatest desires. I encourage you to do this exercise over the course of 3 days so you don’t leave anything out. Not a paid subscriber? Upgrade now to access this week’s Brave YES LAB work.
Draw a big circle. Create slices of pie for how you currently spend your precious hours. Be honest and real.
Then, redraw the circle and create new slices of pie on how you WANT to spend your precious time. Be ridiculous and courageous.
Now, what boundaries do you need to set for yourself and for others to make sure you can restructure your time.
🦚 Ready to have an accountability partner to make sure your legacy happens? Book a FREE coaching exploratory call with me here.
