How do you want to be remembered?
This episode covers the last of our five part mini-series on the secrets to a wealthy life and, fittingly, it’s all about LEGACY.
Creating a legacy is not about putting your name on libraries, becoming super famous and even running your own business. It’s simply about knowing what you want to achieve, what you want to leave behind, and making sure that it’s in line with your priorities and values.
In this podcast I talk you through how to start thinking about your legacy so that you can start building the wealthy life you want.
Links & Resources:
Highlights from this episode:
(00:32) What impact do you want to have on the world?
(04:30) Wise words of Jacques Cousteau
(09:27) The power of a wall planner
(15:34) What are doing towards living your wealthy life?
(18:54) The world is yours to design
Has this podcast started you thinking about what A Wealthy Life might look and feel like for you? Why not spend another 3 minutes and take my online audit called Readiness to Retire Wealthy based on the five principles discussed in The Wealthy Retirement Plan book and episodes of this podcast? The assessment provides you with a personal score and report to help you take back control of your financial future – something business owners and employees both forget – but for different reasons.
Https://VickiWusche.com/Scorecard/
Connect with Vicki:
Visit my website to learn more
Booking calendar – https://calendly.com/vickiwusche
Browse Books by Vicki:
Using Other People’s Money: How to invest in property 4th edition
Make More Money from Property: From investor thinking to a business mindset 2nd Edition
Property for the Next Generation: Securing your future in uncertain times 2nd Edition
The New Estate: Insights from the 22nd century
The Wealthy Retirement Plan: A revolutionary guide to living the rest of your in style
Or read the following Ebooks on VickiWusche.com:
9 Critical Property Principles
The De-Job Yourself Manual: Break your reliance on a monthly wage
The Values Manual: Understand what your values are and how they can be key to a successful business
The Goal Setting Manual: Create meaningful and practical goals then achieve them
Episode 14 – If You Had a Wish What Would it Be?
What impact do you want to have on the world?
Welcome to Episode 14 of A Wealthy Life, and we’re going to be talking about the fifth principle, Legacy, today. It’s everything from small and close and intimate, to big and global and university. It’s how do you want to be remembered? Who do you want to be remembered by? What do you want to leave behind you? What impact do you want to have on the world, on your family, on the community?
Legacy can be anything from life-changing to world changing. It could be about memories and emotions. It could be about a financial legacy that you leave your family. But more importantly, I like to think that it could be something that is now while you’re still alive. You can build your legacy while you’re still alive. You can even enjoy your own legacy while you’re still alive.
It’s almost on the edge of philanthropic, but it doesn’t have to be. It doesn’t have to be, it can be about you and your family. And it’s really taking the principle of Clarity, which was very much about looking down this path at something that you could see, something that you wanted; bringing it closer and closer, understanding it more so that that image sharpened and crispened for you. And now what we’re saying is “let’s go bigger than that.” So, you’ve got that, now where would this all go for you now? What next?
So, it’s about movement. Legacy is about taking the next step beyond, moving beyond your Wealthy Life. So, you’ve got your Wealthy Life, now what? Now what are you going to do with yourself? What are you going to do with your time?
So, what I want to do is get you to just go through these exercises again and think about what the life is you want to live, and you might be going “Vicki, you ask me that every week!” Well, yes, I do. And eventually your answer is going to start to change and it’ll morph and it’ll expand. And it’ll start to give you goosebumps. And I’m going to keep asking you to do this. So, you’ve now completed all–well with this one, you will have completed all five–but you’ve completed four of the principles and I think now’s the perfect time for another walk. A slightly longer one this time. I’d like you to still start with the episode of “Property Helped Me Retire at 48,” which I think is episode eight. So, you’re going to have to go back four episodes. And that’s probably somewhere in the region of about a two-hour walk.
And what you want to do is have somewhere to sit at the end. What I’d like you to do is have a seat before you go home, or if you’re going to do it in the bath, sit on the side of the bath before you leave the bathroom while you get dry and cool off. And I want you to make a new note of the life you want to live.
Now that you’ve done the original sort of focus and Clarity, now you’ve had a look at your money maths and the Control. You’ve created that list of Resources. You’re feeling resourceful. You understand the power of Leverage, you’re moving into a grateful mindset. And now what I want you to do is write how you want to live your life again. And then close your book and then go back home or go downstairs and compare notes, and see if you can see movement in how your dream life or your idea of a Wealthy Life has developed.
And if not, ask yourself why it’s not changed and if it’s not changed because you were really clear at the beginning, that’s absolutely perfect. But if it has not changed, is it because you’re holding yourself back, censoring yourself–remember we spoke about “What Are You Afraid Of? So, I really want to make sure that none of that is just left there.
Wise words of Jacques Cousteau
So, you know that I started with Jacques Cousteau. And Jacques Cousteau–the famous French underwater Explorer who invented the scuba sub Aqualung–he led me to understand time freedom and the importance of, in everything that goes on in this world to be able to carve out moments where you can have a real connection with someone, or maybe a real connection with a place, or find a passion that you could achieve, that you can involve yourself in; whether it was art, whether it was sport, whether it’s walking your animals, it could be your grandchildren. It could be absolutely anything.
As I achieved, for me, time freedom–which was the thing that I wanted–it led me to realize how grateful I am, both for the choices that I’ve made, those seeds that I planted, and also how much I want to share what I knew, what I’d come to understanding as a way of giving thanks. That I am incredibly grateful for the people that I’ve met, the gifts that they’ve shared with me, the opportunities that I’ve had; the combination, I suppose, of education, which includes coaching and mentoring and life experience. Especially the challenges that have helped me shape myself, develop the understanding I have of myself.
And because of that gratitude, I want to help you if I can. And I’m sure I can, and that’s what I want to do. It’s just the same way as if I had a great recipe for a cake or a meal or knew of a great restaurant. I’d want to recommend it to you. And it’s that realization that I want to help other people that’s led me to help my family and then gone on to write a book.
I know that was quite a big leap to go from “I’ll help myself, now I’ll help my family, oh I’ll write a book.” But again, that’s some of the conversations that you have with people, they challenge you, and sometimes someone will challenge you. Maybe I’m challenging you to take a step bigger in terms of the thinking that you thought possible.
I never thought that I could write a book, and then I did. And now I’ve written more than five books and shared in many chapters in other books. But the point here is that I wanted to share the story to show you that if I can, you can. There’s almost nothing special about me. I don’t believe there is. I’m just an ordinary person.
And if I can understand this, I believe you can understand this. If I can create a life for myself that makes me happy, then I believe that you can create a life for yourself that makes you happy. And if we can all be happy in our lives, then maybe–if we remove financial stress and work stress and everything else–families won’t have to separate, children won’t have to not have their parents, children won’t have to live in houses with negative energy or arguing, people won’t have to resort to drugs or alcohol or aggression to make themselves feel better.
People will move away from greed and move towards sharing. And it’s just, I suppose it’s a naïve Nirvana of a world, but that’s all I want to do; to share my story, to share my insights as widely as I can. And then help you create a business, as I have done, that will give you the freedom to live in the way that you want.
The power of a wall planner
And I’ve said this before: I work on average three days a week, no more than 10 months of the year. I fill my calendar with my adventures first and then work out what time’s left to generate the additional income that I need and where I have time to support and help others. This is going to be your primary piece of homework here. So, there’s been a lot more homework in these Five Principles, and that’s the point, really.
No matter what time of the year it is for you now, I’d like you to buy one of those really big wall planners. So, secure it if you can; if you are working from home or you work in an office where you have a wall behind you, secure it to the wall slightly up above the top of your monitor. If you work on a computer, if you work where you are facing customers or staff on the other side, then try and find a wall–or maybe you’ll need to take it home with you—somewhere where it’s in your peripheral vision, because it’s both going to be a reminder that your time is important to you, but also a tool.
Now, this is probably easier before you actually stick it on the wall, especially if you’ve got to lean over a desk to write on it; but take out a red pen. I use a red pen for this because this is important stop time for me. It’s when I stop and I focus on something else; take out a red pen and mark out all the times you’re going to spend with your family or friends, where you’re going to spend time on a passion project, creating your Wealthy Life, or just time out to be on your own. And you need to have at least one long weekend every week. So, in every month there needs to be a good, solid three-day period that you are off.
In every quarter you need to have at least one week off. And you’re going to spend this time enjoying yourself alone, or with family, it doesn’t really matter. It’s where you’re going to rejuvenate yourself, where it’s going to be a time of pleasure, of joy, adventure: whatever the words were. Do you remember when we were doing your values? It’s going to be a time where you are luxuriating in your values, and if what you value is family and adventures, then that’s what you’re going to do. And if what you enjoy and value is solitude and quietness, then that’s what you’re going to do.
I have a client–and he operates this slightly differently in terms of the time–and he goes off to the same African village every year, and he works on a project. He might help them build a well, he might help them build a building that will be their school, or he might help them clear a road, or whatever else. But that’s what he likes to do.
You could do anything you want with this time. However, you have to have one long weekend a month. You have to have a minimum of a week a quarter, and you have to have a minimum of one significant adventure or holiday or project a year. And that will probably be two weeks or could be longer. It’s up to you.
But I want you to take this time to map out the rest of this year. And if you’re getting towards the end of the year, then get the calendar for next year and plan it for next year. And once you’ve put those dates in there, this isn’t employee thinking, this isn’t “I’ve got 20 days off a year, I need to book my holiday before anybody else does.” This is creating the life that you want to live. And in the future, knowing that you can have at least one long weekend a month, at least one week off doing whatever you feel passionate about in a quarter, and at least one significant holiday a year is the start to you pulling back your time and claiming time as your own.
What are doing towards living your wealthy life?
And then as with all of this, it’s a journey that we’re on and your focus sharpens and crispens, then what you’re going to do is be in a position where you are going to find something that you’re passionate about. And maybe you will go to Africa and help in a village, or maybe you’ll help in your own village, your own community, where you live. And you’ll maybe turn some time helping at the food bank or any other project that you choose; you’ll volunteer somewhere maybe, you’ll take your knowledge and experience from your work and your business, and you will apply it in a community or a charity setting for the benefit of others.
But this is where reality really hits. It’s going to be, what are your priorities? What’s your timescale? What life do you want to live? And how can you make that a priority? Now you’ve been through–you’ve basically been through the Five Principles–once you’ve understood your finances, your assets, your resources, and you can start to work out how you can generate the income you need–because you understand your finances–in a way that allows you to have the time that you want to focus on the things that matter to you, your values matter to you. That’s what’s important to you.
The world is yours to design
So, as a conclusion to the Five Principles of A Wealthy Life, I’m going to ask you again, to go back and listen to these episodes. And I know I only asked you last week to listen to them, but I’m going to ask you to listen to them again. Because if you can just go round this route, this loop, a couple of times, you’re going to speed up both your understanding of the principles, your ability to do the exercises a lot better and a lot more meaningfully; and therefore, bring forward that opportunity to live the life you really want. And if you really think about the life that you want your life to be like, this is the most invaluable gift you could give yourself: the time to understand and to take part in these exercises.
You can look back at this time at some point in the future. At that moment, when you took your walk or you took your bath, or you re-listened to the episodes, and know that it was in drafting your first, second, and third versions of your Wealthy Life that you really got those seeds to germinate and to become very healthy plants.
[Sound of a timer buzzing and ringing]
And look, there’s 3:33. It’s 3:33 and my question is, why are you so successful? Why will you be so successful at this? What are you doing? Go back and listen to that episode about how to set the alarm for 3:33 and to change the message. Ask yourself this question on a daily basis. Maybe don’t start with, “how am I successful?” Maybe start with the, “what am I doing towards living my wealthy life? How am I making that step towards a wealthy life? How has my understanding of a wealthy life come into more focus?” Whatever you want your sentence to be. You’ve planted the seeds now, and they’re starting to sprout in your mind and everything is going to start to shift.
Everything is going to start to realign to support you. And I promise you this. And the reason for that is that our primal minds are here to support us, to protect us, to make our lives long enough that we can breed and that we can make sure that the beings, the human beings that we are, carry on living in existing. And in the early days, all they were looking for was food, shelter and not to get eaten by a sabre-toothed tiger. And those aren’t our problems now.
But when our minds are filled with the news–even if that just comes off of your Facebook feed or Twitter or Instagram–a lot of which is filled with things that aren’t supportive of you. If all of that information is going into your head, then your mind is trying to sift through all this information and work out what’s important to you. And if you don’t tell it what’s important, which is why having a list of your values, and why having–if you want to call it a goal, have a goal–but a goal is a finite whereas what I’m asking you to do is focus down the path and find something that you can make clearer and bring back towards you. Bring back down your timeline towards you.
But if you do that and you focus on that, then your mind starts saying, “okay, I don’t need to look for sabre-toothed tigers, accommodation and food. I understand that what [insert your name] wants, what you want is this thing that you are focused on.” And so how can I start to identify opportunities that will support you achieving what it is?
Because now your goal is this thing you are focused on. It’s not bare survival because you don’t have to worry about money anymore. And the reason you don’t have to worry about money anymore is because you’ve taken the Control episode and you understand your spreadsheet. You understand whether you have enough money or more than enough.
You’ve planted the seed of time being really important by putting that calendar where you can see it, and you’re using it to remind yourself that you’re in control of your time. You’re in control of how you spend it and that your life is a series of the days on a calendar that you choose how to fill.
And if you don’t choose how to fill them, somebody else will choose how to fill them. And as you get more and more adventurous–and I do love a coloured pen–start by maybe using red for time with family, green for time or projects, blue for passion or the community, or changing the world. Any colour you want, any colour that has meaning to you, use those colours to highlight and brighten up your calendar with all the really important things that you want to do.
The world and A Wealthy Life is simply yours to design. And I hope that by listening to this, that you feel empowered, inspired, and motivated to take this opportunity to make your life a life that is full of possibility, of hope, of adventure, of awesomeness, excitement, love, freedom–or control if that’s what you want. Your legacy is yours to design. Your legacy is yours to choose. And I can’t start with Legacy, I have to start with Clarity, I have to start with that little seed and then take you through the exercises so that you can reach this point and go, “do you know what? I do want to make a difference.” And then, who do you want to make a difference to and what do you want that difference to be?
In fact, Legacy can mean whatever it is that you want it to mean for you. Now, later, today, tomorrow… family or further away. And for me, this is the really exciting thing, because I know that in listening to this podcast, you’re going to be part of something amazing. You may change your family or a family member’s life for the better. Maybe you are going to change something in your workplace. Maybe you’ll share this message with somebody at work and maybe they’ll start listening to the podcast. Or maybe I’ll even come and speak to where you work and all of you will start to change the way you work and the way you think, because you’ve helped me to share this message.
And it’s not incompatible with work and employment. It’s about enjoying what you do even more and therefore being able to contribute even more. So, even though I’ve talked about planning your holidays out, there is no reason why that is incompatible with work. There is no reason why we have to work a five-day week or 48 months of the year; it’s just that that’s convenient. If we all decide, we all want to work in a different way, we will.
And actually, I think that considerate employers do really want to listen to their staff because they understand the stresses and the strains that people have been under. And if you work with your staff and you help them become clear about what they want; help them not to worry about money, help them understand that they have plenty of resources, how to leverage them, how to be grateful, how to be positive in their mindset; how can they then not first enjoy working at work and then contribute more? And collectively your business will have a shift in its culture, which is about how you all work together. I know my daughter’s company gives time off a year for her to work on a charity project, so she can choose the project she wants to work on and more and more businesses are doing this.
And maybe this is what you could do with your employees. Maybe this is what you could introduce into your workplace. And if I can help you in any way, let me know; I would love to either talk to your team by Zoom or potentially even in person, if we’re allowed to do that again. Listening to this podcast are individuals that are going to leave a lasting and positive impact on their family, on their community, and I believe, on the world.
And just how large or how small or how positive the impact you are going to create is totally up to you. And I am excited at the possibilities of what you are going to go on and achieve what you are going to go on and do, and how you, by your actions, are going to be another little piece in the puzzle that shifts this world to being something more supportive of one another, more loving of one another.
Yeah, I’m going to stop. I’m going to stop there. So, please make sure that you diarize for the next episode. Join the Fanclub. Make sure that you subscribe. By now you’ve had some 14 episodes, I would love it if you leave a review, please. Share this podcast with somebody else that you think will benefit from listening to it and above all let me know if I can help you.
Thank you very much for your precious time listening to A Wealthy Life podcast, my name is Vicki Wusche. The Legacy is yours to create and yours to share. And I hope that this episode has brought some much needed “Whoosh” into your life and your Legacy.
You’ve been listening to Vicki Wusche, wealth strategist, author, and property investor. With a name like Wusche, spelt W-U-S-C-H-E I’m easy to find on all the usual social media channels do come and connect. Been loving the podcast? Then join the Listener Fan Club where I will share extra insights and host webinars. Links to this and more of my story are both in the show notes and on my website, vickiwusche.com. See you on the next episode.