PURPOSE of WEALTH (Pt5): LEGACY
Hello Alexir, and welcome back to the final episode of our five-part series on the purpose of wealth. We all want our lives to have meaning, right? To leave behind more than we took, and to know that because of us, even in the slightest, the world is better than we found it. The final purpose of wealth is to facilitate your legacy.
So, what is legacy if not eternal impact? Legacy is when you're silent, but your presence is felt. It comes from the highest form of impact one could ever have. The thing is, though, you don't set out to build a legacy; it happens as a result of your pursuit of adding value. The more you think about it, the more you realize it's the same with success and even with money. All of them come after you do good work. People take notice, and this is the first type of legacy: legacy through example. You are writing your legacy every single day, so be aware of what you're writing.
How can an individual be themselves if all they do is be like everyone else? You see, there are two ways to go through life: one by getting on the train of life and riding it in your cabin until the day you die, and two by walking, swimming, and riding your way to the final destination that we call death. We all get to that same destination, but the value lies in the journey. The second option is always more interesting than living your life on autopilot. That's how new roads come to be. Someone like you decides to create a new path for themselves, and the world is paying attention. If you do it successfully, soon after, others will decide to walk the same path, but there needs to be a trailblazer. The risk-taker: the one who enters the tall grass, not knowing what awaits.
You can't build legacies by being like everyone else or doing what everyone else is doing. As the people early in the comments know, there's only one reward for being first. Everyone else is a follower. The world remembers those who are first: those who are first to do it right, those who are first to take everyone else somewhere they've never been. The purpose of wealth is to make sure the legacy you're writing is worth reading, and by doing this, your legacy is worth saving.
Now, for the next type of legacy that has to do with saving everything of value: legacy through preservation. What is the purpose of life if not spending it on that which will outlast you? The more you look back, the more you realize that the only things we're seeing are what others have left behind for us, that we're able to withstand the test of time. Preservation of value is key. There's value in knowledge preserved in books. There's value in art, in the way it makes us feel. There's value in architecture and the way we build the future based on it. There's value in diversity: diversity of humans, of animals, of plant life. Save it all before we're unable to save anything.
The purpose of wealth is to give us all a fighting chance to save everything, including ourselves. Allow all of it to thrive, and we will thrive because of it. We draw value from it all, and if one is paying attention, in the last century, we've been sacrificing the long game for short-term rewards. If you want to build a legacy, keep in mind to save what needs saving and rid ourselves of that which doesn't serve society. Which takes us to the third form of legacy: social legacy.
Legacy is not what you're doing for yourself, but for everyone coming up next. The world rewards those who are brave enough to correct it. In a world augmented by creative ideas, there's no need for hierarchies. We don't need a caste system. We don't need race, sex, religion, height, eye color, or political affiliation to stop us from progress. It doesn't matter if we are or are not created equal, for what the world needs is equality of opportunity. Anyone from anywhere in the world could build the future through the value of their ideas.
There's a big difference between equality of outcome and equality of opportunity. One leads to society collapsing and one to society thriving. It's those who are fighting for the latter who are building a social legacy for themselves. Social legacy comes from the sacrifice of the self for the benefit of everyone else, and that's exactly what we see in the people who've managed to garner social legacy. The purpose of wealth is not to turn you into a freedom fighter but to give aid to those whose mission is the minimization of suffering in all its forms.
The world is changing fast, so you're either going to ride the wave of change, or you might drown with it. And the best way to secure your legacy is through being the one who brings the new wave: legacy through innovation. First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win. Every innovator is in one of those four brackets: are they fighting you, laughing at you, are they ignoring you, or did you win? If not, keep playing that game until you do.
Legacy is when you need no introduction. People know you because you've touched their lives in a positive way, and because of it, your reputation precedes you. The world remembers the innovators. If you want to be wealthy and leave behind a legacy, well, be contrarian and be right. Who cares what they think if you can prove it? So prove it! Prove them wrong. If it doesn't exist yet, then build it. Put your mind where your mouth is, and the world will thank you and tip its hat toward you.
A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they know they will never sit. Your innovations might be the stepping stone for future generations. We need innovators, we need game changers, we need people to throw out the status quo and bring us into the future.
This brings us to the last on this list: legacy but domino. If innovation relies on figuring out a new solution to an old problem, this cannot happen without discovery. Discovery is the first domino piece in a chain that takes us to places we didn't even know we wanted to go. The personal computer was an incredible innovation, but it was only after we connected to the internet that we realized just how big of an impact it can have. But without the computer, we wouldn't have been able to build the internet. Without the internet, we wouldn't have built blockchain. Legacy comes from this layer or domino style of thinking.
Everyone who gets rich and makes fortunes relies on one of these new layers to begin their legacy: IBM with the computer, Bill Gates with software, Steve Jobs with the iPhone, Sergey with Google, Vitalik with Ethereum, and now people are building on top of that. That's where the saying "we are standing on the shoulders of giants" comes from, and we've all got plenty of giants that did the heavy lifting for us. If you don't have wealth, use the most recent layer to build your fortune, and then use said wealth to open up the future for what's coming next.
We might end up living in virtual worlds, exploring space and bending time. We might live happily ever after once we transcend to gods and live eternally as code, and today is just a part of that journey. You are part of that journey, so ask yourself, "What is your legacy? What will the world remember you by? How can you help to build a better tomorrow?"
Hopefully, this video has served its purpose as a domino piece in your journey, and we can't wait to hear where it takes you. As for those of you still watching, of course, we've got a bonus for you, and that bonus is knowing that everything is a choice for as long as you live. Remember that everything we do is a choice. Everything we will do will be the result of a choice that we make toward having it. We become what we choose to become. Every single action we take is a choice.
We like to think that we've got no choice, but you chose to watch this video, didn't you? You chose to open up the internet today. You chose to get out of bed this morning. When thinking about wealth and the purposes which it serves—freedom, security, comfort, progress, and legacy—most people think of it in terms of a desire, something we wish we could have, instead of thinking of it as a choice.
In a world where everything is at your disposal, your reality is a choice as well. Now, what we're about to say will sound pretty controversial, but the more deeply you think about it, the more you realize it's true. In our world of free information, staying ignorant is a choice. In our world of unlimited teachers, staying unskilled is a choice. In our world of abundance, staying poor is a choice. In a world where there is still suffering, not doing anything about it is also a choice.
We want you to take a good look at yourself and make better choices starting today, and we want to help you with that. We really do. That's why we created the only app out there that can help you to make a measurable change across five key areas of your life: wealth, health, emotional intelligence, relationships, and intellect. Through the Alux app, subscribers are delivered a 10-minute coaching session every single day designed to help you level up straight across the board. Go to alux.com/slapp to get started.
And even better, because you're a true Alexer watching this video until the end, scan the QR code on screen to get 25% off a yearly subscription. Practice what you learn, start small, follow the progress model, and see where it takes you. We will always be here for you, the true Alexer, to guide you along your journey, because doing this cements our own legacy. Through some serendipitous turn of events, we found each other, and we couldn't be more proud to share this leg of the journey with you.
No matter how far you've come, the rest of your journey starts right now. If you feel ready to build your future, write the word "now" in the comments. Let's see how big the Alux family really is!