History over legacy

It took me more than I would have imagined to be comfortable with being fully who I promised to be. I saw Alex Hormozi settle into the reputation of 1 of zero and it triggered something in me. It made me realign my values according to my blood oath I made a while back and the best way I can present what I stand for is: History over legacy.

Definitions

History is defined as "a continuous, typically chronological, record of important or public events or of a particular trend or institution." The root of history comes from Greek historia ‘inquiry, narrative, account’, which comes from histōr ‘learned, wise man’.

Legacy is defined as "something transmitted by or received from an ancestor or predecessor or from the past." The root word comes from medieval Latin legatia ‘legateship’, which has its root in legatus ‘person delegated’.

History over legacy means to focus on the whole, rather than the individual. It means focusing on the doing of the incredible, rather than handing down the incredible. It means focusing on what WE do, rather than what I, by myself do. History over legacy means focusing more on the dent made in the world rather than having a "good life" solely for myself.  

This value is not binary, it's not a YES or NO. It's a slider, rather than a switch. It's not a matter of "do I care about making history, yes or not". It's a matter of proportions, it's a matter of where do I find myself on this spectrum of 99% History and1% Legacy - TO - 1% History and 99% Legacy.

Unreasonably BIG results

Giving looses. Adam Grant in his book Give and Take presented the results people have when they give compared to when they take. The people who give more get less. The people who get the worst results are the ones who give the most. When your cup is empty and you try to fill other people's cups, obviously you die of dehydration. 

Taking wins. Takers will get more than givers. If I ask everyone I ever meet to fill my cup, I will have a full cup. However, if I annoy everyone in my path with my cup, I will also get a reputation of being a taker and nobody will want to have anything to do with me.

However, giving wins (BIG). At the end of the spectrum of huge results are givers. The people who altruistically help others achieve beyond what is reasonable and achieve an even greater level of results. If I go around overflowing other people's cups, rather than simply putting a tiny bit of water in them, it's reasonable at least 1 person will feel like they need to do the same and overfill my cup. Giving continuously, the pie grows. If what we're building (History) grows, what we get (Legacy) will follow and it will grow as a result.

What it looks like in practice

Focus on THE BIGGEST value. Give so much value people feel it's unreasonable, it's too much, it's life-altering. Give until it's uncomfortable how much you've helped people. If you just give more, the one time you will make an ask you will be given even more.

World-sized pie. It means you're not focused on just your pie, or on the small imperfections of the pie. You're focused on an enormous pie that's so big, the bumps in your life pale in comparison. It means directing focus in a manner that leads to world-changing things, rather than things that make just my world great.

Giving is highly selfish. That's not just out of the goodness of one's heart. You just know that if you extend the horizon, if you just give a lot more, you will at some point gain even more than anyone could have ever expected. If you shift your focus from thousands to billions, from years to decades, and from lifetimes to centuries, it's fairly unreasonable not to make history. And if you make history, it's fairly unreasonable for your life not to be well spent.