Treasure and Legacy

Rich and poor are fantasies we make up in our own heads. We create this script of what we think we need to do and how we need to live. It is a script that is often based on the false narrative that we create by what we think other people think of us (digest that for a second)… but in reality no one thinks about us nearly as much as we think they do, and if they are thinking about us it is rarely in concurrence with what we think they are thinking about us.

I know for a long time I felt that I needed to have the most money, and the most stuff, and a plan to leave my “empire of money and stuff” to my children in some sort of legacy package. What does that even mean? The most money? The most stuff? How much is “most"? There is always someone with more. Wake up!

Over the years I have had rather large sums of money in my bank account and know that people thought I was average at best, if not closer to poor. Other times in life I have had almost nothing in my bank account and I have literally been accused of selling drugs or being the recipient of “family money” because people assumed I was “rich”. I assure you, I have never sold drugs and I am not privy to “family money” but the judgement exists just the same.

The recognition of this judgement led me to understand that being rich or poor are completely subjective if not entirely made up in our own minds- often based off what we think other people think of us. We create the definition of rich and establish the benchmarks by which we judge our own wealth.

For far too long I have used the incorrect benchmark. I worshipped money like it matters far more than it does. All the while, with large sums of money or little money, my family has been by my side. The love that my wife and kids have for me remains constant regardless of what my bank account number says and more importantly, regardless of what other people think my bank account says.

It's taken me a long time, but I have come to realize that my greatest treasure is my wife. She created the possibility of a legacy for me. She has created and shared life with me. She will also be with me when our children grow up and start their own lives.

I am also finally starting to understand that my legacy isn’t in how much I leave in a dollar amount or pile of physical possessions when I die. My legacy is in the caliber of human beings my children are and become because of the way I have loved them and the example I set for them while I am alive. It is in the memories that will come to mind when they think of me, or the sentiment they feel when hearing my name after I am gone.

For years I have wasted the most precious investment capital of all - my time. I have wasted time by focusing on money and worrying about what other people think about me and the money I have or don’t have. I believed that more money would make me more rich and create a better legacy to leave behind.

Although money is necessary and I intend to make more, the lions share of my time will be invested in my wife and my children. They are my real treasure and my true legacy, and by that measure, I am a very rich man.

How big is your treasure? What kind of legacy will you leave behind?