Benjamin Franklin's blueprint for a lasting legacy

Summary

Benjamin Franklin: either write something worth reading or do something worth the writing. my edit on that: do both.

the three-part framework I use to keep this honest:

1. evaluate the action. before I commit to anything that takes a real chunk of time, I ask whether it is worth writing about ten years from now. most of the things that are loud right now do not survive that question.

2. create work that is actually meaningful. not optimized for the algorithm. not optimized for the room I’m currently in. work that ties back to what I actually believe about building better humans.

3. stay aligned with your values. if the action and the work are pointed in different directions, the legacy splits and nothing compounds. the people who leave a mark were not multitaskers. they were obsessive about one or two threads for decades.

ask yourself daily whether you are living a life that matters. if the honest answer is no for too many days in a row, the legacy doesn’t show up later. the days are the legacy.

Transcript

introduction to the concept of legacy beyond traditional definitions

The most impactful business is the business that genuinely improves another human, a better human business. And to grow a business like this, you have to continually improve yourself. This podcast is a documentation of that thesis, scaling businesses and also personal growth. My goal is for you to shortcut this journey.

So if you’re ready to try hard, subscribe. If you like what you’re hearing, please share and enjoy. How long will people remember you when you’re gone? This might be an uncomfortable question to answer, but I think it’s one that you should start to ask yourself if you have any interest in having any bit of legacy in your life.

personal reflection on what legacy means on a familial and community level

This is the Better Human Business Podcast. I’m Jerred Moon and today let’s talk about legacy. So when I think about legacy, it’s not about having my name etched in stone or memorialized, you know, memorialized in a monument or written on a wall somewhere. And I think that’s what a lot of people think of when they think of legacy.

They think of being in the history books or being remembered for hundreds and hundreds of years. But for me, that’s not what I’m shooting for. My legacy is about the impact I have on those closest to me. So my kids, my family, all the people around me, my friends, and maybe my name makes it down one generation, two generations within my family.

Maybe it makes it more. But I have no expectation of being this massive historical figure with grand importance as my legacy. But my legacy is important to me for my family, my kids, their kids, their kids, so on and so forth. And it’s about the values you instill and the actions you take to shape their lives.

discussion of Benjamin franklin’s influence on my understanding of legacy

And a lot of what you’re doing right now can actually leave legacy. And I want to talk about Benjamin Franklin’s approach to this because it’s something I heard well over a decade ago, and honestly, it’s kind of been a guiding light in my life. So Benjamin Franklin was a man who understood the importance of legacy.

And he once said in the 1738 edition of Poor Richard’s Almanac, if you won’t, I’m going to read it. It’s in his like old English whatever, but if you won’t not be forgotten as soon as you are dead and rotten, either write things worth reading or do things worth the writing. So this quote has gotten, you know, simplified down to either do something, either write something worth reading or do something worth the writing.

And it’s one of my favorite quotes. And how I’ve always pictured this is, I don’t want to write something worth reading. I don’t want to do something that’s worth the writing. I want to do both. And so in all honesty, do both has kind of been a mantra for me for a long time. Do both. I want to write something that’s worth reading.

practical steps for integrating legacy into daily life

I want to create something that’s worth consuming. And at the same time, I want to be of enough significance that what I’m doing, my actions are worth writing about. This quote captures the essence of a life, of living a life that matters. Okay, Franklin’s life was a testament to this principle. If you know anything about him, you’ve read his autobiography or biography, anything, you know, whether through his inventions, his writings, his contributions to society, he was an inventor and he consistently strived to leave a lasting impact.

But I’m not here to talk necessarily about Benjamin Franklin. It’s really just a quote that I love. And do both is what I always am saying in my mind. Do both. Do both. Meaning I want to write something worth reading and I want to do something worth the writing. Now if we talk about implementing this into our daily lives, you know, what are, what can you do?

There are three things. First, evaluate your actions. Because Franklin’s quote for me is a litmus test for basically my daily activities, my quarterly goals, my annual goals. It’s a litmus test for me. So first thing, evaluate your actions. Ask yourself, are my actions today worth someone else writing about or speaking about?

the importance of aligning actions with personal values in legacy building

The second thing, create meaningful work. Now in Franklin’s time, this was only writing, right? And so I’m not saying that you have to become an author and you have to write something. I just think it’s creating meaningful work. So consider if what you are creating, be it work, art, relationships, whatever your craft is, is it something worth consuming and remembering?

And again, this is just what do you create? This could be a reel on Instagram. It could be a book that you wrote. It could just be your daily actual work, things that you create. But is it meaningful? And then the third thing is stay aligned with your values. Ensure your actions align with your core values and contribute to the legacy you want to leave behind.

Those three things, evaluate your actions, create meaningful work, and stay aligned with your specific core values. Now why this works, this approach keeps you focused on the big picture of your life and just not just the immediate future, not just, hey, what’s next? What’s tomorrow? What’s next week?

encouragement to consider long-term impacts and the big picture

It encourages you to think beyond the next week or month and consider the long-term impact of your actions. And so by consistently evaluating your activities through the lens of Franklin’s quote, you stay aligned with a purpose-driven life, ensuring that your legacy is built on meaningful contributions.

I absolutely love this quote. And I would challenge you not only to do one or the other, do both. That’s my challenge to you today is do both. Wake up every single day and say to yourself, do both. How can I do both today? What does that look like? Because yeah, we all need to make money. We all need to get more leads in our business.

We need to generate more revenue for employees, new ventures, all these things, right? And we can get really bogged down in the minutia, the tiny details of all of those things. But one day you’re going to look up and you’re going to be 85 years old and you’re going to ask yourself, did I live a life that mattered?

final thoughts on living a life that matters and the call to “do both.”

Was it important? Did I have an impact? And I don’t want to get to 85 and start asking that question. I want to ask that question now so I can steer today and tomorrow and next week in the right direction. So when I get to 85, I don’t have to look back. I just know. I know that’s the way I’ve been pointing my daily activities.

And so my legacy will be left. If I can even make it to 85, you know, that would be huge in and of itself and leaving a legacy. But I think if you can guide your actions and leave a legacy in your family, ask yourself every day, am I doing the things that matter? Am I doing the things that are worth writing about?

Am I creating things that are worth consuming? And if you want to be remembered when you’re gone, do something worth writing about or write something worth reading. But to do that, you’re going to have to try harder.