Building A Legacy ‒ It's Only Too Late If You Never Start!
- Brainz Magazine
- Jul 14, 2022
- 6 min read
Updated: Feb 11, 2024
Written by: Andrée Funnell, Senior Level Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
As I have gotten older and wiser, I have realized that it’s never too late in life to start anything new, learn new things, discover new places and interests, and most of all DISCOVER YOURSELF. When you know what you want, what you are capable of achieving, and how to get it then there should be nothing stopping you from the success you desire.
In fact, I have achieved more in the last two decades than in any other time in my life – why because I invested time and money discovering the authentic me and identifying my PURPOSE and PASSION in life. My Purpose and Passion are: “Helping people to flourish and grow both professionally and emotionally to achieve happiness, fulfilment and success in their lives”.
My legacy would be that “I have made an inspirational impact and an amazing difference to people’s lives”.
Since 2002, I have re-dedicated my career to helping women; develop; clarity, confidence, and a deeper understanding of themselves to achieve the success they desire in their career and their lives, whilst maintaining health and wellbeing. I bring my deep-held corporate experiences, empathic coaching, and training skills together to help them achieve their optimum goals and dreams. I also became a qualified coach, trainer, author, and speaker and now help others to find their PURPOSE, PASSION, GOALS, and DREAMS and help them to BUILD THEIR LEGACY.
Building your Legacy
By discovering your unique strengths, determining your core values, and directing your future with ambitious lifetime goals, you can achieve amazing success. But be warned if you – don't like change, you will like irrelevance even less.
How many times have you watched the news, read an article, or been to an event where you were in awe of someone else who appears on the surface to have achieved some amazing things in life and is leading the life you can only dream about?
How often do you ask yourself?
Who am I?
What do I want from life?
What have I achieved?
What is my legacy?
What do I want to be remembered for and to whom?
What have I achieved in life?
Am I proud of myself?
Have my efforts been recognized?
And so on…
Those people who you admire and have achieved success have not been handed that success on a plate. They have worked very hard to achieve the success they are known for.
These successful people have achieved this through:
Creating a vision
A comprehensive set of aims and goals
Continuous innovation
Grit determination and hard work
Sticking to their unique talents
Looking at failure as a learning experience
Looking at obstacles as mere challenges that can be overcome
Whether you are about to start your career or already working your way up the ranks, you want to give yourself every possible advantage. You have a lot of decisions to make and a vision to achieve, no matter where you are in life.
It is up to you to determine which path in life you will take – but how can you avoid walking down the wrong paths over and over again until you find the best one?
To determine your legacy and success you need to do the following:
Have a clear vision
Know your PURPOSE in life
Identify your unique strengths
Determine the where, how, when, and why of what makes you truly unique
Find out what are your strengths and unique talents that would give you the edge?
Know your Core values?
Discover your Limiting Beliefs (inner critic)
Stop living as an imposter in your own skin.
Set clear goals to achieve
So… what if you had a detailed plan for the rest of your life? What dramatic dreams could you achieve?
On the other hand, you also need to identify who or what is stopping you from moving forward.
As a confidence coach, I work with professional women to help them get clarity, and confidence and have an impact on their lives to achieve the success and life they desire.
When I start working with new clients, I hear them saying things like:
I have to continue the path I have already started.
I don't know what my unique strengths are.
How do I measure my success?
How can I prepare for an uncertain future?
With all of the changes coming, how can I gain the advantage?
I don’t know where to start
Who is going to listen to me?
I don’t have the confidence or courage to...
The above statements are examples of how we stop ourselves from moving forward and achieving the success we truly desire.
Regardless of your success, you obviously still have a lot of decisions to make in the short term before you can move forward.
How to build a lasting Legacy – 5 steps
How can you build a lasting legacy? How can you find success now and in the future? There are serious changes coming, so how will you survive and thrive?
How to put yourself on the road to success, and stay there!
Gaining the advantage requires balance, uniqueness, a clearly defined path, and values that support your goals.
Below are 5 steps you can take to build your lasting legacy.
1. Balance
There are elements of success that are the building blocks of professional and personal life. The success principle is founded on the four elements of Health, Wealth, Wisdom, and Relationships. By achieving balance in all of these 4 elements you can be assured that your success will transcend both work life and personal life.
2. Uniqueness
It is not enough to be unique. All of us are unique as we have different DNA, opinions, culture, background, etc.
The first building block of success requires knowing precisely what your strengths, skills, and distinct abilities are such as:
An innovator and brainstormer
An organizer
A researcher
Gifted at coming up with new ideas or gifted at bringing ideas across the finish line?
A natural orator and communicator
A creative genius
A natural leader
By knowing your unique strengths, you can avoid needless trial and error.
3. Clearly Defined Path
All of us, regardless of age, wish to build a legacy that outlasts us. But how can you develop that legacy?
Every study on goal-setting has shown the same thing:
People who make tangible goals achieve more than those who do not.
The resources to help you determine short, medium, and long-term goals are out there. The key is to make the goals tangible, challenging, measurable SWOT goals, and, most of all, based on your natural abilities
4. Values
A core set of values provides the fuel for success. Determining your core values will not only help you achieve success, but it will make the success deeper and richer. The ability to communicate exactly what your values are will help you strengthen occupational and personal relationships and give you direction in your daily challenges.
5. Bringing It All Together
The tools necessary for future success will revolve around abilities, clearly defined goals, balance in all areas of life, and core values. Not only will you get the financial and time-saving benefit of reducing costly trial and error, but you will be on the path that is best suited to what makes you truly unique
And …fulfilled, happy, successful and your legacy will live on.
Want some help to BUILD YOUR OWN LEGACY then contact me: training@afcconsultants.co.uk for more information on my amazing 1:1 bespoke coaching programmes.
Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, connect with me on LinkedIn and visit my website for more info!
Andrée Funnell, Senior Level Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Andrée is a multi-award-winning Coach, Learning & Development Consultant, best-selling author, and speaker. She is the founder and driving force behind the success of Aspiring Future Competence (AFC). Since its inception in 2002, AFC has helped clients across a wide range of business sectors to get visible, get heard, and get ahead by applying inspirational ways to bring about positive change and empowerment. She has over 20 years of HR & training experience working in corporate organizations and a further 18 years delivering development solutions that make a difference to people’s careers and lives. She is a qualified coach, professional trainer, and NLP Practitioner. She discovered that Authenticity is the key to happiness, fulfillment, and success and is keen to get the message out there to others. ‘Behind the Mask’ is Andrée’s literary debut about ‘Authenticity.’ It’s an essential interactive step-by-step guide to turning your life around and achieving the kind of life you deserve by living authentically.
