I think legendary is when you make us dance to your song long after it has finished, when we carry the words of your book in our hearts long after we have closed the last chapter. Legendary is when you formulate the laws of science through years of toiling and then those laws continue to be used in the body of science when your soul is resting in eternal peace. Legendary is when we feel your touch when you are no longer by our side. Legendary is when you give us something to remember you with.
The 1st of July is marked as a holiday in Botswana to celebrate the birthday of the first president of Botswana Sir Seretse Khama.
The man passed away in 1980 and years after his death we still celebrate that he came this way. He is remembered as the father of democracy and remembered for his great leadership; for leading what was then Beuchanaland to an independent state.The country that was then under the heavy grips of poverty was transformed into a country with an increased economic growth and political stability under his leadership.
It is people like him that give me this nagging feeling, this nagging question “will my contributions ever count for something?”
This question keeps coming, it pops at unexpected places and unexpected times. Perhaps it is what Martin Luther King describes as the drum major instinct. Luther King says that the desire to lead the parade and to be out front is something within all of us and he calls it a drum major instinct. The drum major triggers keep coming to me sometimes when I am watching a movie or listening to a song.
When I watched “the fast and furious 7”, the movie triggered something in me, “will my journey change a life, will my contribution count for something when I am gone”. Paul Walker, is gone yet those of us who remain behind still feel the magic of his talent. To me that is legendary.
What brings a memorable impact?
1. Legendary comes when people answer to the provocations of their hearts, the strong yearnings of their hearts.
To all of us there is something our heart yearns to answer to.
There is a problem our heart seeks to find solutions for.
There are annoyances and little irritations we yearn to solve.
There are passions that may be pointing us to areas where our legendary lies. We need to answer to those passions.
What’s your answer to the things that bother you, what’s your answer to the problems you want to solve? What your answer to the burning passions and dreams within your heart?
Your answers to those provocations may be through business, through act of volunteering, through research, it may be through writing a book or through singing.
2. Legendary comes when you keep perfecting the answers to those yearnings
Answering to the stirrings of your heart is one thing, perfecting the answer is another.
Whichever way you have answered to your provocations and yearnings, you have to make sure that the answer gets better every time.
You have to become a professor in the answers you are providing to the world.
That professorship will only come through hard work, through practice and learning from your mistakes, through a desire to improve your work.
Let’s say you answered to the problem of beauty. If the stirring in your heart is to design dresses and you have answered to that the question is;
Are you perfecting your answers? Are you working towards providing satisfactory designs to your customers?
If you are speaker are you making a conscious effort to perfect that, to rehearse and never take your audience for granted
3. Legends appreciate network and they know that they are made by others
Legends are built in obscurity by other people believing that they can be something long before the masses recognize them.
The seeds of legendary are watered by others, they grow when you are in communities that help you water your greatness. Like the community I belong to. It is a community of start ups and these start ups recognize if they are to do anything legendary, it will be a result of forming meaningful connections.
In conclusion
What contributions would you like to bring to this world? What are stirrings within your heart do you need to answer to? Are you making connections that will help you in your path to greatness