In cultural terms, leaving a legacy means achieving something so great that you are remembered for generations. But what does it actually mean to leave a legacy? I’ve been going deeper into studying eastern philosophy and the root idea of impermanence. It has some pretty amazing applications in everyday things but I found a deeper meaning as it applies to a lifetime. Life comes to an end eventually and whenever that day comes, what would we want to think to ourselves as we reflect? That, essentially, is a legacy.

I used to always think that legacy meant going down in the history books, literally, as being the best at something. It’s not that it was about the history book, but more that I went for something with everything that I had and made a big enough dent in the world. But what would be the thing that I would go down for? If you asked me when I was a kid, it was going to be the best F1 driver in the world. Then it was going to be the best golfer in the world. Shortly thereafter, government leader. Then, computer coder (that one was pretty short). Filmmaker, athlete, entrepreneur. But I don’t really know what it is now and it feels very much out of the ordinary.

I’ve always been a pretty highly motivated person, almost to a fault. Most of the time, when I begin to dive into something I am interested in, I go all in. It is almost blinders are on and whatever I have set my goal on, nothing else seems to matter. It is incredibly helpful when it is time to focus on the goal, but proves more difficult when trying to remain present. While it will always be a practice, I have learned a lot more about navigating this type of balance. It mostly began with focusing on the correct thing, the present. With that goal always on the mind, I was always set on living in the future. You could say, constantly thinking about the legacy of being the best at something. But what about just being the best at life?

Life is something that is completely unique to everybody. And living a full life is something that is just as unique as life. Can I look upon every single day and know that I lived it the best that I could? From waking up to hitting the pillow at night, being the best at life suddenly became much more clear. However, with the clarity also came the focus. The focus of every day, in every moment, now points to living a completely full life. But that is merely a feeling. And I’ve been trying to think about how to put it into words because once you know it, you just do.

Here’s the best that I can do to explain it. There is this feeling that comes up when we are truly having fun. No matter if it is a pursuit of the mind, body, work, relationships, or exploration, there is a moment when something happens to all of us. It is that feeling that time begins to melt away. It is the moment where your body feels light, almost as if there is a warmth in the moment. Fun is, well, the best feeling. So when that type of excitement comes up in the body, you know you are onto something. It could be cooking, making music, going surfing, reading a good book, these are all experiences that contribute to the ultimate goal of being the best at life. Life is about experiencing as much as possible, and having fun along the way. With that as my renewed focus, it suddenly made almost everything that I do in life either in pursuit of that goal or not. It made every decision of what to do in a day, super easy.

One of the hardest parts for me was beginning to say, “no.” Yes, to me, always meant the best at something. It was an opportunity to outperform and continue to improve. When I began saying no to things, it was wildly uncomfortable for me. I felt like I was turning down that opportunity to outperform, that I would somehow fall behind my goals: in my training, my work-life balance, and in the quality of my work. So every time, “no,” was said, it almost made me even more anxious that I was letting myself down. But as luck would have it, time (yes, that very thing that we want to disappear when having fun) is the very thing that is needed to see the compound effect that the simple two letter word can have.

What I am most excited about now is, well, just about everything. I can still spend time with my family, I can still work extremely hard, and I can still spend time training. All of it is actually possible because those are the things that are in focus for me. With the main focus on living a full life, that allows for things to ebb and flow, as does our interests and short term goals. That is to totally be expected and, in fact, very much encouraged. By taking on different interests and goals, more can be experienced in life. But it doesn’t mean that everything is always perfect. There are always twists and turns along the way that challenge us. It just merely adds to the story. Whenever those tough moments occur, I almost immediately think about what the compass is saying. As long as I am heading in the right direction, then it is just part of the process. If I am not heading in the right direction, it is a good indicator that I need to make some adjustments. But all of this also comes back to being present. The more presence I can bring to a situation, the much better the outcome, no matter what. The future will come, become the present, and then become the past. The present is the only thing that remains totally consistent throughout life. So focusing more on the present will also guide more of the decision making towards achieving that personal legacy.

So what does it actually mean to leave a legacy? A legacy is what you do in every single moment. We have the beautiful opportunity to choose to add something to our legacy that we are proud of. Our legacy is our story with all of the behind the scenes included. Our legacy is the moment when we realize that what we do in life is whatever we set our minds to. But all of this is rooted in leaving the best legacy of all, a full life.