[IOTD][#7] Leaving a legacy | Kent Nguyen's Lab

Originally published on Medium on September 12, 2018 · Written by hand, Pre-AI era.

Like everyone else, I constantly asked myself “who am I?” and struggled a lot with the answers. I am lucky enough to have ‘old friends’ and that I discovered even when reaching the point of 40, 50 years of age people are still asking themselves the same question, just that we are becoming better and better at hiding our insecurities.

At the end of the journey, on our deadbed, we do leave behind money, wealth, status, etc… Despite such, no one will talk about the flashy cars or big houses that we own but what will be left behind is the stories of our characters, the achievements that left impact on others both negatively and positively. Remember Steve Jobs? or Bin Laden?

Instead of trying to figure out the person I should be, I flipped the perspective around. Obviously I’m no where near the end of the road, not even half way, I hope. So the question I now ask myself everyday is: what kind of legacies would people remember about me when I’m not around, would there even be any stories at all to tell? Do people even remember what I’ve done for them?

The word legacy itself has opposite meanings: one means something old and unwanted (legacy software systems), and the other means an achievement that is hard to be replaced (Usain Bolt legacy). Neither are right but this perspective offer me a guiding principle that I can consciously choose to work towards creating a legacy, whether right or wrong I wouldn’t know after I’m gone.

Live in the present.