Remarkablogger Manifesto: What Will Your Legacy Be?

Sep 19, 2008
10 Comments

Now we come to the final post in the Remarkablogger Manifesto series. The post in the series are:

  1. What Do You Believe In?
  2. What Do You Stand For?
  3. What is Non-Negotiable?
  4. Why Do You Blog?
  5. What Will Your Legacy Be?

The inspiration for this series comes from changes I’m making in my life that are not separate from my work. See the first post, Remarkablogger Manifesto: What Do You Believe In? for more on why I’m doing this series.

If you can’t see the video in your email or reader, check it out on Viddler or on the blog.

What Will Your Legacy Be?

Oooohh… so serious! Yes, it is. I used to think no farther beyond the nose on my face. Then, as I grew up more and gained some experience in the world, I saw advantages to thinking and planning for the long term. But this goes even beyond that: thinking and planning for after you’re gone. I don’t mean like wills and funeral arrangements. I mean what will you leave behind that changed the world? That’s your legacy.

Everyone changes the world. The question is: how, and how much? When you go through life with this in mind (not possible to do all the time) you have legacy consciousness (I just made that up, but I think it fits the idea). When you have legacy consciousness, you act differently. This is changing my life, and I believe it will change your life, too. It may even have a significant effect on those around you (and don’t expect everyone to be happy about it) because your life is interconnected to the lives of your family and friends.

More powerful, personal, and persuasive blogging is just one of the many results of legacy consciousness.

I realize this is more personal than the other posts in this series, but if you want to share what you want your legacy to be in the comments, you are more than welcome to.

Here’s to your blogging success!

Michael Martine, Remarkablogger

Blog Marketing is what I blog about, Blog Consulting is what I do–How can I help you? Click here to find out.

  • James, I know you do, and I thank you for it. It means a lot just knowing that.
  • Dude. I would've sat there and said, "Hell yeah! Wasted and what a blast!"

    Would've been lying, though. I know the feeling of being bone weary. Hang in there, we've got your back.
  • My wife has been commenting to me personally on these posts (for obvious reasons) but what she said about this one caught me up short a little bit. She said I looked drunk or tired. Now, I don't drink at all, anymore, but I was definitely bone-tired, and I guess it shows. So, if anyone else was thinking the same thing, the answer is: no, I wasn't wasted. Just tired. :) I've been trying to get back into a regular sleep routine after getting all polyphasic. The temptation to just stay awake when I know I should be in bed is too great. I've been getting 4 - 5 hours of sleep a night.
  • I don't fool myself into thinking my kids will want my empire. One can hope the Royal PenPrincesses might aspire to such heights, but it seems they have other desires.

    Ah, children.

    But my legacy - my mark on the world, I think, is to have people reach in and discover a love for writing, the pureness of expression that writing provides.

    I can't do that on my blog. But we've done it over and over at www.escapingreality.ca , where our players have learned just how much writing can change their life.

    It's a great feeling to hear people say thank you.
  • Your legacy will be helping others with your thought-provoking questions and helpful insights.

    I think many of us (and I include myself here) hope that in some way, big or small, we have positively impacted the lives of others and contributed to making the world a better place.
  • @Franklin - Money is just the end result of the doing the things that really will make up your legacy: your example to others and the works you leave behind. Making money just comes with the territory, dude. :)

    @Jennifer - Yeah, see, this is what I'm talking about with the idea of "legacy consciousness." You know your descendants will be able to read, watch, and listen to all of your online output. How you lived your life in terms of business, family, and creative expression will be their example. Thanks for sharing.
  • My legacy is vast. I change people's perspectives and how they think the longer I talk to them.

    Blogging specifically will allow my grandchildren to see me as a real person. (I assume my kids won't read it because they will want to think of me as Mom, not Jen LOL.) But the perspective on what life was like when I was younger, the heartache I experienced before I met their father and what a good marriage looks like for my gene pool.

    It's all there for them. All the lessons they don't want to hear from me. If they hate me and don't want to hear it...I pray they still sneak and search my blog for answers on what to do in a given situation.

    My legacy overall is to make people less afraid of life. Then I pray (not in a god way, more in a hope way) they pass that on to someone else, and eventually we are all a little less afraid to say hello to a stranger.
  • I think everyone's legacy will be a little bit different, but the main legacy we all want is to have made a whole lot of money. None of us want to be remembered as the blogger who failed over and over again. We want to be known as a successful Internet entrepreneur that has gone from nothing as a blogger to a whole lot.
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