Leaving a Legacy
In my portfolio, the Ellie Bookcase. A piece of my legacy.
Every person goes through career stages. At first, it’s all about finding footing which starts during your education, deciding which path to take based on a multitude of factors. Those early choices sent in a direction.
Footing
Once pointed, you narrowed to a path because you had interest. Maybe electricity gave you the buzz you needed or an accounting class punched your ticket. Whatever it was, you picked it and that path landed you a job.
You thought you knew what you were getting into, but boy you were wrong. On the job, the learning really began. There are processes to follow and documentation to read before you are even allowed to do anything. Once you figure out the basics, it’s time for the advancement phase.
Advancement
You want to move up, to gain responsibility, to make more money, so do the thing society told you to do. You work harder. That hard work is recognized and rewarded, a truly exciting phase in your career. But after a reward, the expectations are lifted, the hard work isn’t extra, it’s expected.
The all out sprint begins to burn you out. You are tired, mentally, physically, emotionally. You don’t think you can keep going and start to realize why the senior folks have a slow pace. They too hit a point when they couldn’t give more, so they stopped. It is at this point that you have the most important career decision to make, and it starts with a simple yes or no question.
Is this the right career for you?
If you say yes, maybe what I described was wrong. Maybe you are still in the advancement stage and are energized by the reward. Maybe you are fortunate and are already in a fulfilling role. You wake up in the morning with a glint in your eye, ready to tackle the days challenges. If that is the case you should stop reading this now. I cannot help you one bit.
But for the rest of you who said no, think about your options. You can stay where you are. Not the most inspiring option, but if you can live comfortably and can make money to fund your hobbies.
Or you can make a change and pursue a purpose driven path. Work your way toward a lofty goal, something with meaning, something that gets you out of bed early and keeps you up at night, in a good way.
You will be remembered for that purpose, it will create your legacy and you will be remembered for it.
Legacy
History books are riddled with legacies. Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Walt Disney. I don’t even need to say what those folks are known for, that’s how big their legacies are.
Inventing world changing technologies or establishing a multinational corporations are examples, but not a legacy requirement. In fact, I want you to throw all of that out the window.
Instead, think about who do you remember and what you remember them for. Grandparents, managers, teachers, a coach. Those people had an impact on you which you’ll never forget.
That is a legacy. Leaving a lasting, memorable impact on someone’s life. The funny thing is, you may not even know you did. But they will. Forever you will be in their memory and be honored for what you did.
Building My Legacy
I wrote an article about a shift I made, for me, titled Knowing Why which inspired me to share this idea of legacy.
My legacy, the reason I was put on this earth, is to leave behind inspiration. I have spent some hours thinking about this and for me, my inspirational work falls in two categories. I want my furniture to represent who I was, that’s why I build quality work, because I want it around 100 years after I am gone and I want the person seeing it to think, “wow, this is an amazing piece of craftsmanship.”
Second, I want to help others grow their craft, to inspire, and to teach. Every day I look for inspiration from others. Their work pushes my designs and my abilities to new levels and I wish to do the same. To pay it forward by sharing, teaching, and developing new woodworkers to pick up the craft. It will be a great honor when one day I have a young woodworker reach out and say they saw my work and were inspired to design a piece with elements of mine in mind.