When you look back on your life, on your career, what do you want to be known for?
Ok, that might seem a little scary and serious to jump right in with, but have you thought about it? What do you want to be known for? What do you STAND for? What’s the legacy you want to leave?
You might have gone through exercises before to determine your values. You probably have done some sort of vision planning or goal setting. If you’re like me, I would struggle with those often as I was really only seeing my values and vision through the lens of the role I was currently in, or the role I was working towards next. I never really felt like I fully was acknowledging, realizing, or living into my true values or vision because I couldn’t really figure out how to articulate it.
Until, I “reverse engineered it”. I heard it asked this way instead “What do you stand for?” “What do you want to be known for?” This is a way of creating your own personal brand that is authentic, and also allows you to live into your values and vision for yourself. Sometimes starting at this bigger macro picture for yourself of what you want people to think of when they hear your name, can then open you up to then breaking that down into actual tangible things you can do.
Once you realize what you stand for, what you want to be known for, the thing is the “how” you get there, isn’t even as important. See the thing is, there are so many different ways you can make that image of yourself a reality, but you need to know what it is. You need to have that driving force of WHY that image of yourself is so important, and then you can build the stepping stones to live into that. They won’t be a perfectly paved path. You might go sideways, backwards, stumble..you can take a detour when you want, but that’s the beauty in it. There’s not just 1 right path to getting there, but with every step, you are ANCHORED into the image of yourself and what you stand for.
Here are a few questions to ask to get you thinking:
- What do you want to be known for?
- What do you want people to think of when they hear your name?
- What’s the legacy you want to leave?
- What do you want to be most proud of?
- What’s your sentence? (Taken from the book “Drive” by Daniel Pink….if people were to summarize you in a sentence looking back on your life, what do you want that to be? Ex) He raised 3 amazing kids who grew up to make impact on the world Ex) She guided others in their careers and helped them realize their potential
Once you answer those questions, you will start to see the things you truly care about most and that you aspire to be. Your responses will help you to see what you truly VALUE, and then you can use that to create your VISION of yourself and the GOALS that will help you to live into that.
So, what do you stand for?
Are you looking for helping figuring out what you want to be known for? To create your vision and a plan to achieving it? As a Leadership & Performance Coach, I work with emerging leaders doing just that, and am on a mission to help leaders to live and lead consciously. Set up time Here to learn more about how we can partner together!