Legacy isn’t just what you leave when you’re old. Legacy is what your daily choices are creating right now.
Let’s break it down.
L – LOOK BEYOND TODAY
The feeling of laziness, lack of drive, lack of interest and endless scrolling feels good for 5 minutes or for longer. But they steal years.
The screen is loud, but your future is louder. The future comes whether you like it or not. It does not wait for you to be ready.
Don’t trade 10 years of purpose for 10 hours of distraction.
Look beyond today. What you do in secret for the next 12 months will decide the next 10 years. What are you doing or building in your spare time?
E – ELEVATE WHAT MATTERS THE MOST
Not everything deserves your time. Your attention is money.
What matters most right now? Your health. Your skill. Your character. Your relationship with God and your family.
Screens will always be there. Opportunities won’t.
Elevate what matters. Put the phone down, leave non-developmental movies alone, stop watching others act and steal your money and time, and pick up the thing that grows you: a book, a skill, a workout, a prayer, or a conversation.
Do the hard thing first. The easy thing will still be there later.
G – GUARD YOUR SYSTEM
You don’t have a motivation problem. You have a system problem.
Drive doesn’t come from hype. It comes from structure.
Develop a structure and a system for good living, and guard it.
• Time
A book to develop your mind, a Bible chapter to connect with your Maker, a podcast that improves your relationships. Fast from social media and unprofitable movies.
• Body
Sleep, drink water, and move. Keep a clean environment. You consume not only food, but also your environment. A healthy environment fosters a healthy mind. An unclean environment breeds an unclean mind. Nothing good grows in an unclean mind. Exercise your body.
• Inputs
What you watch is what you become. What you listen to is what drives you. Wrong music fuels wrong emotions such as anger, immoral thoughts and rebellion. Unfollow, delete and block anything that makes you small or susceptible to unhealthy emotions.
You can’t beat distraction with willpower alone. You beat it with rules.
A – AUTHOR YOUR FUTURE
No one is coming to write your story for you.
What future are you looking forward to? One that is self-sufficient, prosperous, peaceful, not dependent on others to meet your needs, and free from begging?
What are you building? A great future does not just appear. It is built.
Pick one area of development for the next 90 days and become obsessed with it.
Authors don’t wait for inspiration. They show up and write one page.
You are the author. Not your mood. Not your feed. You.
C – COMMIT TO GROWTH
You are not finished, whatever your age.
Be a growing person. There is more in you.
Growth is uncomfortable. That’s how you know it’s working.
Commit to learning one new skill this year. Commit to failing, learning and trying again.
Stagnant water smells. Flowing water gives life. Keep moving.
Y – YIELD A LEGACY
Legacy means: When people think of your name, what do they think of?
Lazy or dependable? Distracted or disciplined? An overcomer or a victim?
You yield a legacy every day through what you do when no one is watching.
In 10 years, your children, your team and your community will eat the fruit of what you plant today.
Yield a legacy you’ll be proud of, not excuses.
MY CLOSING ADMONITIONS
1. Guard one hour every morning with no screen.
Use it to pray, move or learn.
2. Author one goal for the next 90 days.
Write it down and build a system to achieve it.
3. Elevate one habit that builds you, and kill one habit that’s killing you.
Look beyond today. Know that what you do today is the seed of your future, whether negative or positive. Elevate what matters. Guard your system. Author your future. Commit to growth. Yield a legacy.