The last year of a president’s term in office, the last few years before a CEO or superintendent retires or moves on, she is often said to be “focusing on her legacy.” You’ll hear it a lot in 2016, describing virtually every action President Obama makes.
You don’t build a legacy in the last 10% of your career. In fact, most of it is already finished by then.
As a young Alexander Hamilton says in Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton,
God help and forgive me,
I wanna build something that’s gonna outlive me
He knows if he wants to build a legacy, he needs to start early.
As I focus on my day-to-day work, I try to leave a few seconds to step back and look at the big picture. What kind of life am I building? How does today lead to tomorrow, next month, next year?
Don’t wait until the closing number to build your legacy. Start now with intent, because the fact is that you already have started, whether you are conscious of it or not.