One of the truths I know well is that I will not be here forever. Though this might read as doom and gloom, it is closely stated in reality. Though I have the choice to live today and not worry about the future, it would leave me complacent, just like most other people. We have an opportunity today to create meaning in our days and even set up our tomorrows to have more meaning. How do you create a legacy? Today, I want to share how a legacy is formed and what people will remember about you.

At the end of life, you will find that death is a hard process. If you are the one dead, you do not have to worry about much, but your family and loved ones will. They will cry tears of sadness and maybe even be happy because they lived a good life or are now past the pain. Regardless of what those tears represent, those tears will dry up one day, leaving you with a memory and a hole to fill in your heart.

Now that we know what we could go through if we lose someone and what our loved ones will go through, what is your plan for that inevitable moment? Did you envision the wake and the funeral? Did you want to be buried or cremated? There are many factors to the end of life planning, but most people do not think about this. Some may write any specifics in their will, but that is far and few between with today’s culture and mindset. Today, death is taboo and shouldn’t be spoken about openly.

Though many people fear death, they will do things that will bring them closer to it without them noticing. For example, you are afraid to die but will eat poorly, drink alcohol excessively, and not practice an exercise regimen. We do not do the things that could benefit longevity but have adopted a YOLO type of thinking. Where you only live once, there is not enough time in a day, and it is too much work to achieve the better things in life, so settle at a comfortable median.

I found myself walking towards that complacency after college, and I began to think about my legacy if I continued on my then-current path. After deep retrospection, I decided I needed to make some serious adjustments to the path I was laying out In front of me. Yes, my life would have been great, but it wouldn’t create the meaning I wanted at the end of my life.

People think the act of service is enough to validate that what they are doing is enough to live a good life. Yes, there is no greater act than the act of service in the sense of the attainment of joy and fulfillment. However, it has become an excuse to validate now showing up. People think they are their profession, but they are much more. They are not only their working hours but what comprises after those hours. I noticed that when people retire, they lose a sense of identity, and that causes them to lose focus when they think they would create the most meaning.

One of the greatest fallacies of life is that it will wait for you when you are ready to live it. Though it could happen, more people find they need more time before they truly get to live. Though we do not know this for sure, I have seen people who have done great things and still have regrets when they reach the end of life. That led me to wonder how I could live a regret-free life and create some semblance of meaning while leaving a legacy behind.

I decided to create Reven Concepts that will check all the boxes to what life and a legacy mean for me today. There might come a time when this is no Reven Concepts because either I have evolved it into something greater, or I am no longer there. Regardless of what happens, I have created my footprint in the world. That includes acts of service, making the world a better place, and the concepts of leaving behind a legacy.

I know I only have a set amount of years on this Earth. That means I have a set amount of time to make my mark impactfully. Not only do I help individuals who can afford to coach, but I also offer immeasurable value to people who may want or need a coach and cannot afford it right now. Knowledge is one thing, but wisdom is more difficult to come by daily. How can we propel you forward?

How I propel people forward to their best selves quicker than they are moving is akin to the parable of the boy and the starfish. The boy was tossing Starfish into the ocean, and the old man who asked what he was doing, said he couldn’t make a difference, but the boy said with each star wish I throw back into the ocean, I have made a difference for at least that one. That then leads you to focus on the individual, or do you focus on people on a larger scale?

I have seen some of the most incredible speakers and events, and I am not here to say that they are not incredible because they are. However, how many people leave those events and fall back into their routines? At least half of those people will want to make a difference in their life, but they need proper accountability. What is this person’s WHY or Purpose? Knowing that is the first half of the battle; it is just a part. People will spend their whole life trying to find their purpose only to realize how much work it entails to reach it.

I have found that when I close my eyes for the final time, I want what I build to last for hundreds of years. I understand that at that moment, my loved ones will have eyes filled with tears and a heart full of sorrow, but I do not want them to mourn my loss as a person because there is so much more to life than the person I was or became. At this point, what I left behind cannot be replicated. That means every word I say or idea I instill differs from another person. That is our uniqueness of us as people.

We can get close to what someone has done, but in a way, it will not be the same. That is why if you are watching a show and they change the character, you are immediately turned off. We as humans have come not to like change even more than our ancestors. We are looking beyond material things like cars, clothes, etc. Let’s begin to look at content and experiences that can be shared because those are what will be remembered.

One of the main reasons I do what I do might be the first time I speak about this in the blog, but I have said it before on the podcast, and that is leaving a guide for my children and theirs to follow. The written and video content I have created will stand the test of time because it is not only common knowledge but innate primal wisdom that everyone can relate to today and in the future. This is why I have decided to leave the generations to follow. They might be tough to watch because of how dated they would be with the advancement of technology, but there is one thing I am sure of is that this scientific age will also be the end of the current evolution of our current human evolution.

If that is the case, why am I setting something up that will last for generations if the world could end at a moment’s notice? The answer is simple, what if it doesn’t, and we have many years to come? Even today, if something happens to me, I will have a guide for my son to follow with all of the breadcrumbs to lead him to the destination I have envisioned for him. In a sense, I want him to be in a better place than me, but I do understand that a tower can only go so high before it becomes unstable.

Only some people will want to be great or make a difference. Some people want a regular 9-5 job that will make them “happy.” However, some people will want to challenge life and fight to the death, not literally, but every day until they die. They understand that at the end of life, what matters the most is a mix of what you have done and left behind. Then you must ask if your life brought meaning and will continue to bring meaning.

What matters most to me at the end of life is creating a guide any man or woman can follow to create a life filled with abundance. The process might have many steps and learning curves, but in each new step, we begin and end with a mindset. ~ Michael Rearden

Until then,

Michael Rearden

Founder of Reven COncepts