Business Coaching Legacy: Reflections on What You Want to Leave Behind?

Updating my will has been on my mind for quite some time now. Life circumstances change, kids grow-up, financial situations changes. I procrastinated for a very long time about this will. Now that it is, I feel very satisfied and pleased. There is peace in that corner of my mind that nagged and nagged about it for so long. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to realize that people, myself included, avoid making out wills because they don't want to confront their own mortality or have to face up to making difficult decisions.

One of the things I learned from the process of making a will is that a will is an expression of love for the living. After all, the loss of you will be difficult enough for your loved ones to bear. Why add to their angst with legal problems, emotional confrontations with family members and possible financial losses.

The living, that is, those left behind, will make of a will what they will. Make no mistake, the will, is taken seriously by those left behind. Understand there will be no opportunity to explain what you really intended by leaving some treasured object to cousin Jo or why you named Sally your executor instead of your older son Bob. The child who is convinced that you love the others more than him will be looking for something in the will that proves him right and may very well find it in spite of how careful you are not to have anything in the will that might be misconstrued in that direction. So, it is a good idea to use the simplest language and clearest grammatical structure as possible.

The Last Will and Testament is exactly that. You don't get a second chance. After I dealt with distribution of the tangibles - financial assets, money and physical objects accumulated and treasured for so much of a lifetime you confront the most important part of your legacy. .

Making a will is a poignant reminder that the physical stuff, including the money, doesn't really amount to very much when all is said and done. Perhaps the appropriate background music for will making is the song "Is That All There Is?" My answer to that musical conundrum is a resounding, "No." That isn't all there is. The tangible things we leave behind have little to do with the real legacy we leave. The real legacy is the one we fashion each day of our lives by the way we live and who we are being.

How do you want to be remembered? Are you living your life in a way that is consistent with the legacy you really want to leave. Do you even know the nature of the legacy you want to leave or are you like Alfred Nobel who was fortunate enough to read his obituary printed prematurely in the daily newspaper? Much to his chagrin the obituary described the fame and fortune he accumulated from his invention of dynamite. Nobel decided then and there that dynamite and its awful potential for destruction was not the achievement for which he wanted to be remembered. And, so he established the prestigious Nobel Prizes. Today, when the name Nobel comes up the first association is with the prizes. Relatively few know he is the inventor of dynamite.

Few of us have the wherewithal to create a legacy of the magnitude of the Nobel Prizes. But all of us can recreate the opportunity Alfred Nobel had in looking at his legacy and then taking steps to change it if it displeases us.

Most of us never stop to think of the legacy we would like to leave. How do you find out what legacy you would like to leave? Here are two exercises that will help you clarify your thoughts on the subject. The first is to write your own eulogy. Warning! This can be an emotional exercise, so keep the box of tissues close at hand. Make sure you are alone and in an environment where you will not be disturbed. Before you start, take a few deep breaths, close your eyes and visualize your funeral. Be objective. If you were to die tomorrow, what would be said about you? Look it over. If the eulogy you write does not please you, write down what you do want to be said about you. Look this eulogy over and decide what actions you would need to take now in order to create the legacy you really want to leave. Notice that the legacy you want to leave has little to do with your business or job. It is about the kind of person you were, who you were being when you were at work, with your family, or handling a difficult situation.

The second exercise is to imagine that you had everything you needed. Write down the words to complete the sentence "If I had__________ I would________________." What changes would you have to make in your life to live a life consistent with your dreams? This is your real legacy. What is your stand? How do you live your life?

Here are some immediate actions you may want to consider taking, with regard to your legacy.

1) If you don't have a will, call a lawyer and make an appointment today.

2) If you have a will, review it. Is it up-to-date in terms of your circumstances today? Does the language in the will say anything that could be construed as hurtful or damaging by anyone? Are you giving from a generous heart or are you attempting to control the living from the grave?

3) Ask your accountant if its time to do estate planning.

5) Now, today start creating your true legacy.

Copyright Unlimited Resources 2000, all rights reserved.

Ruth Zanes has been a Business, Career and Personal Success Coach since 1985. Her broad range of experience prior to coaching includes consultant, business ownership and corporate executive for some of the world's largest corporations. Contact Ruth and see her blog and coaching resources at:http://www.unlimitedresourcesinc.com/

More Resources

Unable to open RSS Feed $XMLfilename with error HTTP ERROR: 404, exiting

More Coaching Information:

Related Articles

Saying NO to Good Opportunities!
Tracey started her video production company 2½ years ago, and after struggling through the start-up phase, she was finally reaping the fruits of her labor. When we talked, it was clear that she was ready to move onward and upward but didn't know how to go about doing it.
7 Effective Ways To Boost Your Self Esteem
1. Get a life purpose statement.
The Need to Feel Special
From the time Jennifer was a little child, she was demanding of attention, especially from her mother, Sarah. With two older brothers, Jennifer had a "special" place in the family as the baby and the only girl.
Listening Skills In Relationships
Recently, when out to dinner with another couple, my husband is surprised at what someone says about one of our neighbors. He even comments this to the person about his amazement.
Greasing the Path to Success: Finding the Confidence to Step Up to Key Moments
Whether it's making a prospecting call to a promising business contact, giving an informal "elevator speech" to a networking group, or attempting to close a transaction, there are certain key moments when putting your best-dressed foot forward really matters. Some of life's fortunate people seem to be naturally at their best finding confidence under pressure.
The Joy of Learning!
"Part of what motivates me to write this book is a concern that we've lost touch in education with the sheer joy of what it means to learn something new." -Thomas Armstrong, Author, Awakening Genius in the ClassroomI think I was around 6 years old, when my mum decided to put me into Piano class.
Great Advice
It never ceases to amaze me that every time I give a speech, do a seminar, or talk with people one-on-one, I get inundated with questions seeking the almighty answers to all that ails them. However, when I press them to come up with an answer to their own situation, they usually respond by offering their own solution right back to me.
Discover The Coach Within You
One of the three basic roles of leadership is the coach or mentor. The best boss is often the best coach.
Guilt: Is it Getting in the Way of Your Self-Care?
When Do We Usually Feel Guilty? When:We're not feeling ok about who we are.We're not feeling ok about the choices we're making.
What Rules!
There are things that we do automatically internally that we don't even realize are the things that make us who we are. Our own rules for living that we hardly ever question, and even less frequently examine.
Coaching Employees - The Chronic Excuser
Most of us find coaching employees to be an effective, even enjoyable, approach to leadership and management. Coaching provides a way to help team members grow and develop, while achieving business objectives.
The Student Who Knew Too Much
This article is for those of you who coach or mentor. Does this sound familiar? "Can't I just try to mail or email, do I really have to call" "I was thinking I could wait to get business cards" "I wanted to be successful first, before I start to market or network" "Why do I have to do it that way, I thought I could do it this way" I could go on, but I think you get the picture.
The Power of Visualization
Professional athletes and other highly successful people use the power of visualization technique on a regular basis. Why? Results of a 20-year study of the effects of visualization on results revealed an amazing discovery.
Progress Reviews: Your Key To Effective Coaching
One of the most effective ways to help your staff succeed is to provide regular, consistent coaching throughout the year. A Progress Review is a specific kind of coaching discussion, tied to the employee's Annual Objectives and Standards.
If What You Are Doing Is Not Working Change Your Approach
And ironically the more we worry about it, the more tense we getand the more likely we are to say something stupid.Let us a take a look at some remedies:1 Learn to relax when you feel under pressure.
Integrating Life and Work
Organizations are finally creating cultures that support a work and life balance for their employees. After years of demanding high productivity and increasing on the job hours and expectations and not achieving the hoped-for better results, companies are finally embracing polices and procedures that support employees in integrating their life and work experience.
We Are Exactly Where We Choose to Be
The idea for this month's newsletter came from an unlikely encounter: I recently had lunch with a new friend named Rick Rockwell. You may remember him as the bachelor from the first-ever reality TV show, "Who Wants to Marry a Multimillionaire?"During our meeting, Rick described some of the knowledge he gained from doing the show, along with a few of past his experiences in business, ethics, and of course, primetime romance.
4 Quick, Easy Ways to Say No to People Who Take You for Granted
No matter how wonderful you are sometimes other people will try to take advantage of your good nature. They will push you, get you to do more than your fair share and keep asking you to do even more.
Think Twice Before Youre Nice
A few months back I had a disturbing dream. In my dream a woman with stringy blonde hair rang my bell.
The Power of Storytelling
Each and every day as we are building our businesses, we all know the key to a successful presentation is a product being sold to the end-line consumer and/or sponsoring a new person. In this article, I am going to show you the difference between making a sale and having customer loyalty in the sales process.