Increasingly we live in a world of short attention spans, short-term time horizons, and dopamine hits of instant reactions. What if, though, we take time to consider our longer-term impact?
How would we live differently day by day if we choose to focus on the legacy we leave through all we do, from the smallest interactions (such as my conversation in yesterday’s post), to work we do that takes time to develop a lasting impact, even, perhaps to words we write and leave behind? (Oh, and yes, I am 57 and had a challenging health journey this year, so I do think about ensuring all my writings stay online for my children and others to access after I’ve ultimately gone.)
What if we, instead, focus on being a “good ancestor” as Roman Kznaric’s book is titled and I wrote about in “We urgently need a sense of a longer now“, or, similarly, on “cathedral building” (as in the photo of Kilkenny cathedral above) in “planting trees you will never see“.
As a parent I see my legacy in action today in my adult children, that being one area that we humans tend to focus on most in terms of our legacy. What if we think more broadly about the impact we have on others around us and on society?
I’m brought to this through a thought that is not about legacy but about longer-term impact.
Nearly six years ago I had a stimulating and energising first meeting with a business leader who was looking for a coach for themself and their business. At that time they chose to work with someone else. Two years later, a piece of news online about their business had me reply to them through that two-year-old email thread to check in. At that time they had relocated across the world for a time and so the timing was not right, so they said they would get back to me “in the near future”. Well, fast forward several more years and that individual replied to that nearly six-year-old email thread to note that, now, the timing is really good for us to explore working together.
Seeds sown six years ago in a first conversation (and we only met in person the one time) may well now bear fruit for the relationship these many years later.
Sometimes the people we would love to work with are simply not ready at the time we talk to them. They, ourselves, the circumstances may never be ready, but sometimes the passage of time and change of circumstances may change things as they might well do in this case. In fact, around six months ago I wrote about this philosophy of “ready, or not ready” at a time when this sort of reconnection from years ago had happened to me several times in a matter of a few weeks.
When I started working as a coach well over a decade ago, it honestly didn’t occur to me that the conversations I would have, and the work I would do with clients, would be and remain impactful years later. However, it is certainly the case, both with clients from years ago reminding me of the impact our work together had. One powerful reminder for me of this was from Sabrina Foster, one of the women leaders interviewed in the Elevating Leaders podcast series. Sabrina took time in her interview to focus on the long-lasting impact our work together nearly a decade earlier has continued to have on her as an individual and business leader. Once I got over myself and the slight embarrassment of hearing someone reference me that way, it acted as another reminder of the fact that we can have an impact that lasts for years, creating a legacy by yes, sowing seeds that may not ripen for years.
Thank you for reading my Sunday musings, and I hope they stimulate thought for you on being aware of your impact now and for years to come in even the smallest interaction.