The legacy you will leave is being written right now.

It is being determined by the work that you do every day and the way that you do it, by the way that you treat others–strangers and family, alike–and it is being decided by your attitude towards life.

When you think about your current life in those terms, everything changes. You realize your desire to honor your best self. You realize this is your one and only opportunity to change the world.

The reason to give conscious consideration to your legacy is not to secure your own lastingness, but to know that your efforts to better the world will continue even after you.

The question to ask yourself is: are you creating something that’s bigger than you?

Are you living in a way that serves only yourself, or are you genuinely touching the lives of others?

It doesn’t matter if you own a large company or care for a small family. What matters is that you live your message so fully now that it cannot help but to extend beyond you.

Let your legacy be kindness. Let it be enthusiasm. Let it be innovation or adventure or knowledge or whatever other purpose calls to you.

And then live by the code of it.