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We often get caught up in the day to day minutiae of our lives. We grind and hustle. We try to chase the almighty dollar hoping that at the end of the day the effort we put in is enough. More often than not, we are moving through life with no real focus or plan for our Legacy.
We love the idea of leaving a Legacy for our family. We’re just not sure how to do that or what it even looks like. We go through life with big aspirations and big dreams but without a clear picture of how to leave a Legacy. The majority of us were not given a roadmap. All we know how to do in life is modeled after the broken system we learned from our parents or caretakers.
The old model demanded that you work hard and play hard.
For generations, we have grown up watching our fathers and/or grandfathers work their tails off to provide. They weren’t home, and when they were home they weren’t present. They had barely enough energy to say hello because they were tired and stressed from trying to support their families. Our parents thought that if they provided financially for their families, that should be enough. Why? Because that’s what was modeled by both society and previous generations.
The old model demanded that you work hard and play hard. And that your family got only the energy and time that was left over. What many of us didn’t realize was that our parent’s relationships were – behind closed doors – most likely broken and unfulfilled. It wasn’t what they portrayed to friends and family. The belief was that so long as your family was provided for, so long as you went to work every day and had a nice house and a nice car, you were succeeding. It didn’t matter if you were unhealthy, or if your personal relationships were falling apart. So long as everything looked bright and shiny on the outside, the rest of it didn’t matter.
You and you alone can break these generational patterns.
This is the Legacy left to us by past generations. But you can break that pattern. In fact, you are the only one who can. And you can do that by taking the first step to break free from that one-dimensional lifestyle and start on your path toward the Legacy you always dreamed of.
It’s time to wake up and realize that it’s not ok to dive all-in to your career or business and neglect your Fitness, your Faith, and your relationships with your Family. To truly Live Your Legacy, you must learn how to create balance and growth in every area of your life. To do this you should be taking consistent and intentional action backed by a ruthless commitment on a daily basis.
This is where it starts, but it won’t happen overnight. In fact, to live a true Legacy Lifestyle it will take years of work and commitment. But that’s the point. To create a Lifestyle that becomes your Legacy, you must be prepared to show up and do the work over and over.
Take it day by day, one thing and one step at a time. Most importantly of all, enjoy the process and the journey along the way.
The day will come when you are nearing the end of life and you will take a look back at where you started and where you finished. You will realize that you broke the pattern. You changed the trajectory of your family’s life for generations and generations to come. Because you had the courage to do the work and make the changes to create true balance in every area of your life, you were able to lead a Legacy Lifestyle.
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Previously published on natebaileyspeaks.com.
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