The Legacy Journal

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Note From Dolly

ISSN 1943-8133
Volume 2009-05, Issue 1
May 11, 2009

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Greetings,

Our current subject is not a Frank Zappa reference (unless you’re so inclined – he did leave quite a musical legacy, through a certain irreverence that also raised the debate about free speech). But, I refer to the celebration of Mother’s Day in the U.S. this past weekend. The process of parenting in itself can, and has been, the source of great legacies. There are seemingly endless forms legacy can take. Some people also nurture into existence needed artifacts to benefit others and make a positive difference. A review of patents issued for some of them demonstrates:

The first U. S. patent issued to a woman was in 1809. Mary Dixon Kies’ process for weaving straw with silk or thread was praised by First Lady Dolley Madison for its positive impact on the nation's hat industry. In 1845, Sarah Mather’s submarine telescope and lamp device was patented, allowing some of the first surveys of the ocean depths.

Martha J. Coston developed an idea for a flare – originally sketched by her deceased husband, a naval scientist. She turned it into an elaborate system of flares called Night Signals that allowed ships to communicate messages at night, for which she received her own patent in 1871.

Margaret Knight was awarded 26 patents, including one for making flat-bottomed paper bags still in use today. Multiple patent holder, Harriet Tracy, invented a unique safety elevator; and Sarah Sands invented a device for lifting and transporting people who could not walk.

Actress, Hedy Lamarr, with the help of composer George Antheil, invented and patented a device in 1941 to manipulate radio frequencies between transmission and reception. It prevented interception of secret communications and helped the allies in World War II.

Influenced by volunteer experiences in the Peace Corps, Ann Moore along with her own mother, designed, made and marketed a wrapping cloth carrier like those she saw used by mothers in Togo, which was patented as the “Snugli” in 1969.

Another mother-daughter team, Betty M. Rozier and Lisa M. Vallino, received a patent in 1993 for inventing a plastic shield to cover the site where a needle is inserted in a patient to deliver intravenous fluids. This simple artifact protects the needle from being dislodged or tampered with, which can help minimize tissue damage and infection.

(Information source:
http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blkidprimer6_12w.htm)

The legacy story in this issue features another ‘mother of invention’ who saw a need and sought out coaching as support – to patent a device, manufacture it, and bring it to market. It has been my true pleasure to be on that incredible journey with her from the inception of her idea … and to have the opportunity to share it with you.

Is there something you would like to bring to fruition? I would love the opportunity to work with you, too.

Cheers, Dolly

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"I have an irrepressible desire to live till I can be assured
that the world is a little better for my having lived in it."
- Abraham Lincoln

"Start by doing what is necessary, then do what is possible,
and suddenly you are doing the impossible."
- St. Francis of Assisi

"Love cures people - both the ones who give it and the ones who receive it."
- Dr. Karl Menninger

"Without deviation progress is not possible."
- Frank Zappa

What Does Creating a Legacy Mean for YOU?

Your legacy is already developing. It includes how others currently perceive you – your talents, gifts, accomplishments -- and the contributions you have already made, both tangible and intangible. You may be surprised that others already think so much of you. If you were to ask your family, friends, professional colleagues and members of your communities, it may amaze you to hear about your attributes rather what you perceive to be flaws or challenges in your life. While you are focused on problems, others see the good you do. That alone can be inspiration to do more!

Creating a legacy starts with a mindset and conscious decision about how you want to be known and remembered. That can color all your interactions and outcomes. Your attitude and actions, how you touch our world, are among the few things you truly have much control over. And from them, great things can be born.

There may be people and organizations, ideas, movements, principles and activities that you really care about and want to be involved with, connected with your name and efforts, or that you want to advance in and for the benefit of the world. Involvement with them may give you ideas for where you can help, where your interests and skills are particularly beneficial, or what you’d like to build that doesn’t exist yet or needs support. Sure, focusing on these notions may harken back to your idealistic youth. Good! We need more of that. And unlike then, at this point in your life you are in a better place to turn the idealistic into realistic – to take a great idea and make it happen. To literally make something from nothing.

Simply put, that is the process of creation. Look at all you’ve created in life to date. If you take time to take stock you may find that much of it is truly, and maybe heroically - even if quietly - great! Some of what you’ve done may not be so great, but all experiences are valuable for what we learn from them. You may have some great insight or pieces of wisdom now to employ. Pondering your own legacy allows you to further consider what you want to create – for yourself and the world – now, and going forward.

The things you care about and have created thus far in life mean something to you – and you can build on that. Even if you are skeptical that you have what it takes to build some great enduring benefit that makes much of an impact, just start by asking and answering questions like “what does creating a legacy mean for me?” or “what really great thing would I like to see exist in the world?” without worrying too much about how you might bring that to fruition. It might be simple, or it might be elaborate. It is a brainstorming exercise, so anything goes. Jot down the ideas (and ideals) that come to you in a notebook, to capture the information that would otherwise just ramble nebulously around in your head. Writing it down will give your legacy its first real shape, and a lot can happen from there.

What irrepressible desires will you uncover? What do you see is necessary – as a place to begin your own miraculous process of creation? What can you love into being, that brings great things back to you? All it takes to start is to consider these questions and then deviate a bit from what you usually do. Brainstorm, make a list, share your ideas with someone … hire a coach!

Maybe you, too, will become a ‘mother of invention,’ and create something that truly makes a sustainable positive difference. “Me?” You might ask. You. Why not you?

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A Mother of Invention Profiled

When her ideas started bubbling up, and could no longer be contained by indulging in occasional daydreams, Dr. Sharon Conley was an accomplished M.D., specializing in medical oncology – cancer care – with a Ph.D. in Biochemistry. She headed up the transplant program at her hospital and was active in the day-to-day clinical practice of medicine. Meaning, she had lots of really sick patients in the hospital to care for, a busy office practice, and a professional partnership to help operate. She was busy. And she was restless. And troubled.

She was troubled because her sick patients, who frequently had a lot of pain associated with their conditions, were uncomfortable much of the time they were in the hospital. And she was restless because she knew there had to be better ways to help them be more comfortable in that setting – when they were there for care intended to make things better. She was also restless because the ideas she had for how to address that goal, were just that: intangible imaginings.

Eventually this got the better of her and she took action – the first step in the creation process of turning nothing (those ephemeral ideas) into something. She captured one of her ideas and wrote it down. That action turned into some drawings, and it all turned into a provisional patent application. And then a call to my office.

In our initial consultation call, Dr. Conley told me she had a product she wanted to bring to market, and explained that she had a number of ideas for how to make patient care at the bedside a better experience … for the patients. As a nurse, listening to a doctor talk of something other than diagnosis and treatment – specifically compassionate care – I was intrigued. She explained about a device she had invented that would allow patients to directly access their physician prescribed pain relieving medicines when they were due on their own, at the bedside, without having to call a nurse and wait for a single dose to be delivered. She wanted to manufacture it and make it available to as many patients in as many health care settings as possible. As a professional coach focused on business development and personal fulfillment, I was eager to help her do it.

A great idea and a lofty goal combined to make an incredible legacy story. Read the rest of it, here.

What has developed from there is a sophisticated business system, utilizing the most applicable legal structures, and incorporating an amazing team of people all inspired to rally around the project. She didn’t know from the start what she could do, she just believed in the possibilities and was willing to take action – and seek help for doing it. As a result, Dr. Conley developed into a physician entrepreneur pursuing a socially noble purpose. See more about her company and its first product, the MOD device, by clicking here: AVANCEN: Improving Patient Care At The Bedside.

Legacy ideas come in all forms and sizes. Will you be a mother of invention for one of yours?

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The Freeze Frame technique referenced in our 2009-04-1 issue was from from: Doc Childre & Howard Martin, The HeartMath Solution, (Harper San Francisco, 1999).

Lynn McTaggart, The Intention Experiment: Using Your Thoughts to Change Your Life and the World (Free Press, February, 2008)

Lynn McTaggart, The Field: The Quest for the Secret Force of the Universe (Harper Paperbacks, Updated Edition, January 2008)

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Interviews With Masters – New!
Our First: Lynne McTaggart
Get your fr.ee audio recording and written transcript in our upcoming series of “Interviews With Masters” – our first, with the amazing Lynne McTaggart. Access these resources by clicking here. Lynne is a journalist by background who wanted to understand the science behind the “metaphysical.” While much of that world is still a mystery – an unknown that science cannot prove – there are things we can observe or experience, empirical and anecdotal evidence, that can be helpful and worth considering. At Creating Legacy, we love the “woo-woo” of the invisible forces in the universe when they work, whether provable by scientific method or otherwise. We want to master those that physicists know and revere, and all the intangibles (precession, serendipity, synchronicity, heart intelligence, love …) that help us feel better and do better. Lynne’s material speaks to this.
(If you received an earlier notice of this and could not access the materials because you use Mozilla Firefox, we believe we’ve solved that now. If you still have a challenge with it, contact Creating Legacy Executive Assistant, Kim McDaniels at Kim@CreatingLegacy.com)

Creating Legacy Kit
Pick up a copy at www.CreatingLegacy.com to help you contemplate, define and plan your own personal legacy. This fr.ee resource includes a downloadable mp3 audio discussing more about how you, too, can make a positive difference that lasts. It also includes our Life And Work After Career guide - a comprehensive workbook that will give you a holistic view of your own life and what is important to you. With our compliments!

DiSCover Your Natural Style!
DiSC® Dimensions of Behavior Personal Profile System®
So who are you? You have a natural style and this 20 minute online assessment is designed to assist you to better understand yourself and others, through a focus on behavioral preferences and the environment most conducive to success. The resulting profile includes an individually customized General Characteristics (Main) report. Six optional sub-reports, providing more in depth guidance in specific areas, are also available. Access the profile materials here.

Stressful Times Call For Reflection and Considered Action
Coping & Stress Profile®
The Coping & Stress Profile^® is a great tool for personal or business use. It provides people with valuable feedback on stress and coping in four interconnected areas of life: Personal, Work, Couple, and Family. Stress is a given, and some stress is even good for us – the determining success factor is how well you cope with it. This customized assessment profile uses an engaging process of personal learning that provides critical insight into how stress in one area of life impacts other areas, examines how coping resources in one area can be used to decrease stress in another, and shows the relationship between stress, coping resources, and overall satisfaction. Access a better understanding of the stressors in your life and your resources to cope with them, here.

A Short Quiz
Take our Legacy Story Quiz online, and share your thoughts! We may use them in a future story.

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Dolly M. Garlo, RN, JD, PCC is the founder and president of Thrive!! Inc. and Creating Legacy. It is a company devoted to empowering business owners and entrepreneurially minded professionals make their positive impact in the world – with joy and meaning.

For 30 + years Dolly has supported clients in many different arenas – healthcare, law and business. While she’s currently best known for her expertise in business development and professional career transition, her clients, members of Generation G (for generosity!) share that her biggest impact comes from her philosophy.

That philosophy is to design your work and create an exceptional life by making sure that all your actions reflect your personal integrity and values, greatest level of wellness, highest and best contribution, and individual sense of abundance – for which you can feel exceedingly grateful. These, Dolly says, are the keys to true, lasting satisfaction and happiness from which you can also “make a positive difference that lasts for generations.”

You can learn more about Dolly and her programs, presentations and products at CreatingLegacy.com and AllThrive.com.

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Thanks and enjoy! The Legacy Journal newsletter is written by Dolly M. Garlo:
http://www.CreatingLegacy.com. If you have any questions or comments, please send them to: Dolly@CreatingLegacy.com.