I didn’t have an easy time when growing up. Things were rough; we didn’t have much and everything was a struggle for my dad, from feeding 4 mouths to accessing clean running water to good healthcare. Being the eldest and only boy amongst my siblings, I had a lot of responsibilities and I would help my dad wherever I could. We were barely surviving and my dad realized that he had to educate us so that our lives could change for the better. He strived to educate us and vowed to put in maximum effort in everything he worked on. Once he could afford it, he hired people to reap and take care of the harvests in the shamba and eventually, he was able to buy more land, educate us and build a better home and future for us, thus leaving behind a lasting legacy.
I would spend a lot of time with my dad pondering about life and I once asked him how he managed to change his life’s situation and provide for our needs. He highlighted the importance of careful planning and sticking to four simple steps to success: Seek inspiration, develop a vision, have belief in oneself and take action. I followed his advice and applied it when I was building my first home, because I wanted to provide my family with a nurturing environment for growth and an asset that would secure their future.
The impact and memories you leave in people’s minds can be summed up into a legacy, which also allows you to safeguard your future and the future of those around you. Building a legacy can begin at any point in one’s life, but it requires one to gather the willpower and follow the steps below:
Seek inspiration that will propel you to begin your legacy. Inspiration can be gotten from many sources such as books, motivational podcasts, documentaries, speaking with professionals from various fields, interacting with children and much more. Be inspired to build your legacy and watch the rest unfold.
Once you’ve gotten inspired, create a vision of the kind of legacy that you want to leave behind. You can create a vision board or make notes of all the ideas you get as you go about your day-to-day activities. Vision will give you a mental picture of your legacy. When I was building my house, I made sketches of how I wanted it to look and finally settled on one layout.
What good is inspiration and vision without belief in oneself? Belief results to positive and optimistic thoughts, which create the best mindset for you to carry out positive actions. It also results to a positive aura thus enabling you to have positive interactions with the people you encounter. When building your house, you might have your doubts but remember why you are doing it in the first place.
Last but not least is action, which is the missing link between what you feel and what you see. Take the bold step to build your legacy by planning and organizing the most effective methods of achieving your goals. If you want a great outcome, you have to take great steps. Observe high standards of quality for your building materials and workers, and choose quality over quantity in everything that you do.
My dad initially couldn’t give me much materially, but this is what he could give me. I still look up to him because his legacy has left a lasting impression in my mind. The road to a legacy might be long and weary but with consistency, you’ll make it through and you’ll later realise that it was all worth it in the end. Start building your legacy today.
