How Do You Want To Be Remembered?
Notes on legacy and leaving the room
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A common question I ask on the podcast is…
“How do you want to be remembered?”
The reason I ask the question is that I like to imagine when I’m interviewing someone that this is the last chance the interviewee will ever get to speak. (Maybe that’s a bit morbid. But it helps me have an extra sense of gratitude for the conversation. And it allows me to treat the time I have with them seriously.)
What would they want their friends, family, and followers to think about them?
But I often get some pushback from the guest. A large percentage of people believe legacy doesn’t matter. Or that it doesn’t exist. And in a sense, they’re right. You (probably) won’t be there to experience what other people think of you when you’re gone. But in another sense, they’re absolutely wrong.
Here’s what I mean…
When we leave a room, there are still other people thinking about us. The things you say have an impact on their thoughts and actions.
So if you extrapolate that to life in general… when we leave this body, there will still be people thinking about us.
And that matters.
So instead of “How do you want to be remembered?”, I will start asking… “How do you want to be remembered when you leave the room?”
Because the first question is too big to fathom. The second question is something we can wrap our minds around.
We exist in the minds of others whether we want to or not. And if you’re not physically there while someone is with you, their thoughts about you are your “legacy.”
(Perhaps this is a separate blog post, but it’s worth considering… who are the people who bring a smile to our faces when they come to mind? What do we admire about them? Why do we value that person?)
So I will ask you, dear reader…
How do you want to be remembered when you leave the room?
Today, I published a new conversation today with Jack Raines. It was incredible to get a chance to sit down with someone while he is hitting an inflection point in his young career. We discussed how he lost $150,000 in a day, what it was like to get mentioned in Tim Ferriss’ newsletter, why you should travel more, and writing online. You can listen to it here.
He discussed his answer to this question toward the end of the podcast. His entire story over the past two years has been absolutely incredible to witness… and I’m excited to see his journey continue to unfold.
Watch here: