Building your Legacy

So far this year, we have?exemplified?three themes offering?insights into midlife,?and how?we might?navigate this challenging time positively:

1) Midlife as a Springboard

2) Wisdom at Work

3) Lives Well Lived

They?lead?naturally into?our final theme for 2023: Legacy.? This is about how we can take all our wisdom, learnings and accumulated experience and build a legacy for future generations that we’re proud of.

Generativity vs. Stagnation

According to psychoanalyst Erik Erikson, Generativity vs. Stagnation is the seventh stage of psychosocial development.? At this stage, “generative” adults are striving to contribute to the world in a meaningful way, reaching out to the next generation to help them develop and lead useful lives.Key characteristics of generativity include:

• Developing relationships with family
• Making commitments to other people
• Mentoring others
• Contributing to the next generation

This phase and set of behaviours paves the way for creating a lasting legacy.?

Creating a Legacy

The Oxford English Dictionary defines legacy as “an amount of money or property left to someone in a will”.? But legacy is so much more than a monetary value or a building with a name on it.? It is the mark or imprint you leave behind and is deeply personal. ?Working on what you want your legacy to be drives you to become more purposeful in everything you do.

“To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.”– Ralph Waldo Emerson, Philosopher ??

What’s your Legacy?

Circle Square co-founders,?Nick Viner and Noam Tamir,?would hope to cite Circle Square as part of their legacy.? Both are driven by a common purpose: to build a thriving community where people have access to a breadth of social, intellectual, cultural, business and philanthropic opportunities allowing us all to continue to contribute to society well into our 70s, 80s, 90s and beyond.?

Circle Square started in 2018 with a small and purposeful group of over 50s, who recognised the value of sharing their collective wisdom with others.? As well as bringing people together, the goal was to?create opportunities to unlock the group’s combined energy, curiosity and life experience for everyone’s benefit.

It was the start of an enriching community of accomplished 50+?keen to keep?making?a? positive impact, to inspire ambition and to thrive during our best years.? As well as the community itself, being part of the movement shaping more positive perspectives on ageing is another legacy born out of Circle Square.

As Noam says, “I’m driven to help others find fulfilment as they navigate the next chapter/s in their life.” This desire to support individuals through the challenges of career transition, reinventing themselves and continuing to feel valued in society led to the creation of the Planning Your Next Chapter programme. The programme has helped close to 100 individuals chart a new course for themselves.

While many when?asked about their legacy, answer ‘our children’?– which?is naturally true?– there is so much more that we will all leave behind. Here are some questions to ask yourself about legacy:

• What do you want your life to stand for?
• How do you want to be remembered by your family and friends?
• What kind of an impact do you want to have on your community?
• How will the world be a better place because you were in it?
• What contributions do you want to make to your field?
• Whose lives will you have touched?
• What lessons would you like to pass on to future generations?

And now over to you!? We would love to hear what?you believe your?legacy?might be?and how you are shaping?it.??Please share your thoughts in the comments below.