On this episode of In The Box Podcast we talked about people being employed at one place for shorter amounts of time than those in previous generations. We also tapped into ways to unplug, how often to consider the legacy you want to leave, one tip on how to exercise patience and – without any context – if it’s better to start small or big.
Episode 42: Length Of Employment, Unplugging, Your Legacy And More
Length of employment – Is it harmful for someone looking to be employed to not have worked at any place prior for longer than a year or two?
Big or small – Is it better to start off small or to start off huge?
Unplug – Best way to unplug?
Legacy- How often should one think of their legacy?
The Economist ends their magazines with an obituary, sometimes of famous people, other times of someone very few people know. They’re a nobody to most, but even nobodies have stories. When you read one, it’s incredible how the writer knew so much about the person. When you think hard on it, you realize the obituary was written long before the person’s death or at least a reporter kept a tally on the person’s life so they had everything to write it when it was near the time for them to kick the bucket.
Most celebrities, political figures, and all-around famous folk. All of their obituaries are drafted.
Yours? Mine? Likely not yet, anyway.
This concept had me thinking. What about your business obituary. Have you thought that far out about it? What will its legacy be? What will people say its story was? Is what you’re doing worth remembering years later? Are you keeping track of the little moments that have made your business great?
The Economist writers don’t follow people around and make their life into a grand story; the people are living a grand story and the reporters are merely telling it.
This begs the big question: what does the draft of your business obituary look like right now?
Is it worth one?
Stay Positive & It’s Interesting When Your Both The Subject And The Reporter
You and I both know there is one particular big reason why you’re working so smart and so hard. You obviously want to go on a trip somewhere, be it Ireland, Cape Town, Napal or to the Silicon Valley to see if it’s all what it’s cracked up to be. One question, though, about you finally going on that vacation you have worked so hard for. Will you be missed?
Blockbuster was loved by many, but when it went away, was it missed?
Bank tellers are loved by many, but when they break and you have to use an ATM, do you miss them?
Even newspapers, which are not yet gone, will they be missed when they are?
If you’re not missed while you’re gone, are you really working hard, really working smart? Because leaving a legacy, being missed isn’t an easy thing. Take a breath, though, you still have time to do things differently before your flight takes off.
Stay Positive & Well, Will You Be Missed?
It’s not enough to be told you’re needed while you’re away. What matters is that you’re wanted, desired, cherished.
H. A. Rey, if you can’t guess from the picture, is the author and illustrator of the children’s book Curious George. Today we are celebrating his 114th birthday! Most people dream about living to 100, let alone, past 100. H. A. Rey has done it.
Let’s think about George for a moment, we can learn a lot from the stories. For instance, there are a lot of questions, and specific questions at that! The books – through George – also continuously preach that it is better to ask for forgiveness than to ask permission; a trait often attributed to the successful risk-takers of the world. But wait, we are not celebrating George’s birthday, we’re celebrating his creator’s.
You’re obviously not falling for the idea that H. A. Rey is 114-years-old. No. You know, as well as I, – if you haven’t Googled it already – that H. A. Rey died 35 years ago! This act of celebrating someones birthday, long after they have passed, is indicative of a legacy.
Rey had focused on creating something that would be remembered long after his death. That is what sets him apart from thousands of other children’s book authors and illustrators, no matter how successful any of them may have been or are now. To create a legacy like that of H. A. Rey, you need to know what legacy you want and use that as your focus point for creation. While you may have a dozen books published or be taking in an annual 1.2 million, if you truly want to know your degree of success, ask yourself the type of question used on every second page of the book; a question that intrigues you and encourages you to turn the page and keep moving forward.
When you die, will your work be remembered?
Stay Positive & Everyone Dies, But Your Work Doesn’t Have To
