Building What Lasts and Providing What Matters

Today’s Topics

• Building a Legacy in a World That Keeps Changing 🧱

• Your Master Plan ✍️

  5 Mins Read Time

Building a Legacy in a World That Keeps Changing 🧱
By Jo

When aiming to build a legacy for you and yours—whether that’s your current goal or a future aspiration—there are a few things that come to mind.

Many of us look at what our parents, grandparents, and even great-grandparents accomplished. Their wins, their assets, their struggles—they all become reference points for us. But here’s the truth: the world isn’t the same anymore.

One thing you can count on is change. And with change comes new opportunities to win—but only if your timing and awareness are right. Don’t just do something because “it worked for them.” What worked in their time might not work now.

Take real estate as an example. I knew someone who bought a $600k condo in Chicago right on the water, just because “that’s the market.” But let’s be real: that condo was built in the mid-1900s, had tons of maintenance issues, and cost more than most houses in entire cities. Was it an investment—or just following a trend?

Most people get trapped in trends without realizing that trends usually set you back in the long run.

College is another example. It’s not bad—education is powerful. But think about the reality: we expect 18-year-olds, who barely know how the world works, to pick a career path for the rest of their lives and pay tens of thousands of dollars for that choice. A lot of it is hoping for the best with a sprinkle of luck.

I’ve lived it. And looking back, I can honestly say: if you knew better, you’d do better.

Our parents weren’t as “house poor” as many of us are today. Look at Michigan for instance—the average income might be around $50k. Meanwhile, home prices in job-heavy areas are way out of proportion. Rent? Easily $1,000 or more for a studio. So if you’re working as a waitress, a customer rep, or in another entry-level job, how do you get ahead?

This is the tension of late-stage capitalism. On paper you might look broke, and in reality, that financial stress can bleed into your mental state too. When you feel like you can’t get ahead, it’s easy to start feeling incapable.

The Golden Rule: That’s why building a legacy today takes more than tradition. It takes research. It takes questioning the old formulas. And most importantly, it takes the courage to create your own path instead of blindly following someone else’s.

Because if you just copy the past—you might end up repeating mistakes instead of creating progress.

Your Master Plan ✍️

By Marcus

Over the past six weeks, we’ve gone down the path of becoming the CEO of your life and career.

For those of you who’ve stuck with this series, thank you. For those jumping in for the first time, welcome—I hope you find a few nuggets here that help you along your journey.

Taking ownership of your life is a tall order. It may seem impossible, but that’s a mindset we don’t have the luxury of keeping.

All the topics we’ve reviewed lead us to one final conclusion in Your CEO Arc. This is Part VI: Your Master Plan.

The Power of One: Become The CEO

In the prologue of this series, Vote On Yourself , I stressed the importance of taking ownership of your life.

When You’re The CEO , you promote yourself to a singular force capable of creating the change you want.

This is particularly important because, depending on your background and lived experience, you may have unknowingly adopted a mindset that stripped you of your power before you realized your true potential. You may have grown up to consider yourself a “victim,” relying on others in positions of influence to “save you.”

What do you have to lose by believing in yourself?

See how far you can take yourself without those limiting beliefs.

Know Yourself: Dominate Through Advantage

Not everyone is meant to be a good worker bee. The 9–5 life we were trained to endure as kids is just one option.

Your struggles with your career may be the outcome of being conditioned to exist in a system you were never truly compatible with.

By identifying Your Employee Type , you now have a level of clarity that puts you at An Advantage .

In this game of life, you need every advantage you can get. Don’t be ashamed of your advantages—or afraid to develop new ones that will benefit you long term.

If you’ve decided to participate in the workforce (more “by force” since we’re born into it), you are in competition whether you like it or not.

You’re going to be in the arena anyway.

Why not play to win?

Research: It Drives Your Value

There’s always been value in taking the time to peek behind the curtain and do a little Research & Development .

In many cases, digging a little deeper will reveal inconvenient—but reality-based—truths. It may also reveal that the information you’re being fed is designed for rage-bait or engagement, not facts that let you make informed decisions.

Your ability to discern fact from fiction and logic from emotion becomes your advantage as you position yourself to Always Provide Value .

Keep in mind that when you allow the data to guide your decisions, you will face pushback. However, most of your detractors haven’t done the research to support their opinions.

Stay relevant by investing not only in the present but also allocating some of your mindshare to what the future could be.

Better to be ready than left behind.

Your Master Plan

No one will care about your life more than you. This is why waiting for permission or a hero to change your life is a fallacy. It’s an enormous waste of time—one I regret not realizing earlier in life.

But… once you know better, do bette r.

Life is hard, unpredictable, and sometimes downright unforgiving. While you have the time and energy, put some effort into creating the life you want. It may be harder than expected and take longer than anticipated but at least try.

You are the Architect of your life.

Don’t let anyone take that power away from you.

Summer.…. Summer.… Summer… Time…