Written by: Dr. Mykim Tran, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
What is a legacy? A legacy is something that you leave behind that others can be inspired and remember you by. It could be something intangible, memories, lessons, and or inspirations.
Why is a legacy important?
A powerful legacy can be carried on for eternity if you create it successfully while alive. Your legacy can create new traditions to replace outdated ones to guide future generations. You can be the person who breaks the unhealthy generation cycles. Your legacy can become a part of history when the majority adapts and uses it.
It is important to understand that you do not need to accomplish your legacy before you die. As a matter of fact, a powerful legacy should not be completed through only your own work. When you die, the next person with the same passion and vision as you should continue where you left off with your legacy. And then, that person should be able to leave a path for the next generation and so forth. And that is how you build a legacy that will continue for eternity.
Your legacy benefits you as much as others.
Building a powerful legacy is not only about after you die but will also provide you with the best motivation and experiences when you are alive.
Meaning and purpose
Working toward building your legacy will give you the best motivation to create meaning and purpose. Your legacy should be something that can make a difference in society and the world. The more you impact the world, the more meaning and purpose you will experience; that is one essence of human potential.
Your legacy gives you the energy and excitement to wake up every morning to do great work. It will push you out of bed on days you do not want to leave. You have something to look forward to living life. It gives you hope and faith that your future and the world will become better because of your legacy.
Sense of belonging
Your legacy helps you create a sense of belonging in the world, which is one component of the hierarchy pyramid to help you reach self-actualization. Your contribution adds value to society and the world, a significant accomplishment of being human. You feel like you matter, and there is a place for you in the world. You feel belong because you know what your purpose is.
This sense of belonging will also decrease loneliness. Loneliness is an emotion that tends to develop because something is missing within you. Loneliness is not about how many people you have but how well you add value to life. There are people who have many people in their lives but still feel lonely. In contrast, you can feel belong with a few people in your life because you add value to their lives and the world. You can add value to your family, friends, community, society, and the world to create a sense of belonging.
With your legacy, it does not matter where you go; you can always add value to others, society, and the world. The world will always be supporting you. You have a connection with the higher power. You will always feel you belong.
Personal growth
Your legacy leads to personal growth. You will realize that serving others requires a lot of personal development. For example, you will need constant energy and strength to serve others successfully. If you have poor health, you will feel tired and unmotivated to want to serve others because you lack the energy.
However, serving others will give you great experiences. You will be motivated to take better care of yourself so you can serve others and experience meaning and purpose. You will not feel great when you go a day without serving others.
The better you care for yourself, the more successful you can serve others. The more you can serve others, the more motivation you will have to better care for yourself. Your life will become a cycle of personal growth, meaning, and purpose, which are the essences of human potential. Click here to learn different ways to achieve personal growth.
Steps to create your legacy
Discover your passion
You must do whatever it takes to discover your passion. Your passion motivates you to do great work because you will enjoy what you are doing. You feel excited to learn, grow, and engage with your passion daily. You will become more creative in serving others and reaching your full potential. Click here to learn the 8 ways to discover your passion. Click here to learn how to grow your passion.
Your life purpose will reveal to you as you grow your passion. Your life purpose is how your passion fulfills a need in the world. You understand why you are gifted with your passion. You see a clear path to serve others and improve the world. Your passion and life purpose will transform into your legacy.
Start small
Whatever you think your passion is, take immediate action to serve others. Creating a legacy is like anything else; it starts small and works your way up. Do what you can with your knowledge and skill and apply them to your passion. As you learn new knowledge and skills, you can use them to grow your passion to make a bigger impact. If you want to learn how to build your passion to become your legacy, I have developed a model called "The Life Purpose Pyramid," where I guided you on how to start small and grow to make a social impact. Click here to learn more about the model.
Your legacy becomes even more powerful when you start from scratch. The learning and effort you put in to create your legacy will be a better experience than when it is given to you, or it was an easy path. Your learning and effort will make you proud of yourself. You will realize how much potential you have within you that you did not realize in the beginning.
Ambition
You must be ambitious. You must tackle the world's greatest challenges. You must believe that you can change the world with your passion. The more ambitious you become, the more creative and innovative you become.
Remember, it does not mean you have to discover the ultimate solution to solve the world problem while you are alive, but you want to work toward solving it as much as possible. The more effort you put into solving the problem, the more meaning and purpose you will develop. Meaning and purpose are emotions that grow through your actions.
It is your life mission
You must see it as your life mission to create a powerful legacy. It is not an option. It is a duty that you must fulfill as a human being. You will not have the motivation to learn, discover, and apply your passion to create your legacy if you see it as an option. You must work on it daily if you want to experience meaning and purpose daily and reach your full potential.
Dr. Mykim Tran, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Dr. Mykim Tran is an expert in humanistic psychology. She is a keynote speaker, educator, life coach, author, and scientist. She is on a mission to help individuals create a powerful legacy that will carry on for eternity. In the process, individuals will transform into the best version of themselves and reach their full potential. Dr. Tran is the founder and CEO of Wake-Up Foundation, a non-profit agency, transforming individuals into social change agents to promote stronger communities. She received her bachelor's degree in Media Communications from the California State University of Sacramento, her master's degree in Psychology at Walden University, and her PhD in Humanistic Psychology at Saybrook University
