The Legacy Journal

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Note From Dolly

ISSN 1943-8133
Volume 2009-05, Issue 2
May 26, 2009

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Greetings,

I’m reflecting about this past weekend. Memorial Day in the U.S. is a special day in my family. The holiday, originally May 30 of each year was set aside as a day of remembrance for those who have died in the service of our country and its ideals of freedom. Congress, with the National Holiday Act of 1971, moved the holiday to the last Monday in May, creating a three-day weekend marking the official beginning of summer here. Some feel that diluted the focus of Memorial Day, and in their own form of legacy are making efforts to restore it to its original date.

Poppy

Another Memorial Day related legacy resulted from the effort of Moina Michael, who inspired by a poem in 1915, conceived of an idea to wear red poppies on Memorial day in honor of those who died serving the nation during war. She wore the very first one and raised money selling poppies to benefit servicemen in need. The tradition spread with the simple creation of a simple artifact – artificial red poppies – sold to support war orphaned children and widows in France and Belgium. Later, just before Memorial Day in 1922 the Veterans of Foreign Wars began selling the artificial poppies nationally. Two years later this developed into a program to sell artificial poppies made by disabled veterans, an effort that continues today in VA Hospitals.

In another form of legacy, an organization called No Greater Love began a campaign in 1997 to create the National Moment of Remembrance. It encourages Americans to take a few brief moments from sale shopping, barbecue gatherings, and other festivities at 3 pm local time, to focus gratitude toward the patriots honored, and remember the real meaning of the holiday. These efforts by the NGL organization – formed as a nonprofit in 1971 to provide annual programs of friendship and care for those who lost a loved one in service to our country – resulted in a Congressional resolution passed in 2000.

You can support and participate in these legacies through buying and wearing a poppy, and stopping for a moment of silent thanks each Memorial Day. If you missed taking a “moment” yesterday, stop and express your silent thanks now. It will still count …

My family’s remembrance always includes an outdoor barbecue with friends, as it was the first U.S. holiday my parents celebrated after their post-WWII immigration from Eastern Europe to seek citizenship here. The bravery of those who helped them make their way through war-torn Poland and Lithuania, slave labor in Germany, and work in the resettlement camps there before reaching the freedom to live and work here, is something we always remember … and celebrate gratefully. Each person’s brave acts of contribution toward that end is a legacy in itself – allowing me to be here to write to you today.

Great legacies are often born from needs first identified through challenges and difficulties – sometimes even a mistake. An effort to make something better turns into an expanded mission and sometimes an organization to carry it forward. Our legacy story this issue provides another example of that.

What do you see that needs doing? How would you go about starting? Who else would you involve and what structure might it take? These are all questions we can help you answer, and with those answers help you create something beneficial and enduring.

Cheers, Dolly

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"No great deed, private or public, has ever been undertaken in a bliss of certainty."
- Leon Wieseltier

"The real winners in life are the people who look at every situation with an expectation
that they can make it work or make it better."
- Barbara Pletcher

"Be not simply good; be good for something."
- Henry David Thoreau

Top Characteristics of a Great Legacy

As the old saying goes: “success leaves clues.” Examine how anything came to be and you’ll discover its elements – which you too can replicate. Here are the elements great legacies seem to have in common. There may be more. We’ll explore each one in greater depth in future issues.

Inspired. All great legacies begin from a moment of inspiration – that expands into something truly inspired and inspirational.
Thoughtful. A great legacy often starts as a thought – simple or profound – to which your best thinking and that of others can be applied for further development.
From the heart. Wherever it starts, a legacy idea is both an intriguing thought and a deep seated feeling, that makes you want to take action – to do something with or about it.
Beneficial. That idea you’re thinking and feeling about is compelling because it will make something better. It is a good idea.
Touching. Legacies seem to arise from something that impacts you, maybe deeply affecting you. As you dare to share the idea with others, you find it touches them, too.
Meaningful. When realized, a great legacy idea, and the project it inspires, truly means something to others ... and to you.
Generous. No matter what form it takes, a legacy project, gives us an opportunity to make a contribution – that really feels like an opportunity, rather than a responsibility or obligation.
Wise. A legacy might even be divinely inspired as most great things are. In its pursuit, there is definitely a sense of a connection to something greater.
Creative. You get to participate in a process that is truly one of “making something from nothing,” derived from possibility and potentiality, and is an exercise of conscious, individual choice.
Workable. A great legacy accomplishes something – generally a noble purpose, of which there are so many. It incorporates important values, and works to deliver great value to someone or something.
Systematic. Building a legacy has definite steps. As they are designed and taken, they can be documented so others can take them, too, to expand and even replicate the project.
Enduring. As the initial idea takes mass, it grows, takes shape, takes on a life of its own and spawns other ideas. Other people show up to help develop it, make it operational and carry it on – allowing you to let go, step away and know it will last for generations.
Memorable. A great legacy, or its impact, is remembered. Often its creator is remembered, too, but because of the creation and the impact it has, not just individual personality or widely recognized behavior.
Joyful. Legacies consciously designed to create sustainable positive benefits encompass a true sense of delight both for the creator(s) and for the beneficiaries – and even that sense of real oneness with the universe which is a profound element of joy.

Again, there may be more. But these are all elements every human can grasp and develop in their own way. What are the sparks that inspire you – that you think about and that stir inside you when you let yourself take the time to entertain them? What are your good ideas, the ones you consider sharing with others – but might be a bit shy to admit? The ones you might be reluctant about because they really are good ideas, that mean something to you and would mean something to others, but you question your true creative ability to make happen?

Great legacies don’t happen overnight. But when you get started, you might be surprised how, stepwise, you can systematically develop your good ideas, find needed support to nurture and grow them – and how they can turn into enduring, beneficial solutions that are both memorable and exceedingly satisfying to see working in the world. What are you waiting for, you creative being?

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Business “Mistake” Becomes Enduring Contribution

Legacies can develop from unusual directions, and truly there are no mistakes – only experiences we learn from and hopefully do something beneficial with. What we experience as problems cry out for solutions, if we but listen and respond. One such example is the story of the Worchester Wreath Company.

Morrill Worcester’s first foray into business was at age 12 with a paper route for the Bangor Daily News in his small town of Harrington, Maine. As a result of this early entrepreneurial venture, he won a five-day trip to Washington, D.C., for signing up new subscribers to the paper. Included in that trip was a visit to Arlington National Cemetery, location of the tomb of the Unknown Soldier and the gravesites of more than 250,000 fallen soldiers. It left an impression.

To pay his way through college, Morrill ran three fruit and produce stands and on the side delivered evergreen wreaths during the winter holidays. In 1971, when he was 21 – the average age of soldiers killed in battle – he started the Worcester Wreath Company. It has developed into a multimillion dollar business that distributes hundreds of thousands of wreaths every year. In 1992, a miscalculation resulted in a surplus of holiday wreaths with no buyers. Morrill translated it into the idea of donating them to Arlington National Cemetery to decorate the graves there.

Every year since then, Morrill Worcester has done the same, donating more than 100,000 wreaths in 15 years. Now, rather than donating surplus wreaths, he consciously and constructively sets aside garlands to create the wreaths to which hand-tied red bows are added. He has rallied hundreds of volunteers – including schoolchildren, scouts, civilian and military groups – and coordinated convoys of trucks, to deliver the wreaths and decorate the solders’ plain marble grave markers for the holidays. wreath laying

The project that started from Maine to Arlington, Virginia continued to expand. In 2006, the Wreaths Across America campaign and a new nonprofit organization were born. Assisted by the internet and use of electronic communications including a website, YouTube videos of events and even Facebook groups, the new organization has a mission to “Remember the fallen; Honor those who serve; and Teach the value of freedom” by bringing children and Veterans together and further the placement of ceremonial garlands at state and national cemeteries and other Veteran monuments.

This legacy idea has grown, and continues to grow exponentially, as these things can go with the right mix of inspiration, perspiration, inclusion of others, team and system building. In December 2007, 286 participating locations hosted Wreaths Across America ceremonies including placement of 32,553 wreaths. In 2008 that number exceeded 350 locations and the placement of 100,000 wreaths. Participating locations include numerous sites in numerous states and the Bahamas. There is now a systematic process on the organization’s website for both connecting with efforts at existing locations, and for duplicating and further expanding the effort. In 2009, wreath-laying ceremonies will be held concurrently at participating locations on December 12 at noon Eastern time.

A great legacy was born from what some might call a mistake – that gave rise to an idea, which led to a defined set of activities, recruitment of others inspired by the idea and willing to participate in the effort, to a set of systems for replication, to developing financial support, to an organization with a defined mission built to sustain it for generations. It starts with a spark and then a single step, followed by another and another. As legacy projects go, this one is a classic example.

What is your spark and what will your first step be? If not you, then who?

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As a life-long learner, my life (and office!) is full of books – some I read and reread, some only read parts of or use as references. Here I include some that have been helpful to me in pursuing my life’s work:

The Artist’s Way: A Course in Discovering and Recovering Your Creative Self, by Julia Cameron

The Path of Least Resistance: Learning to Become the Creative Force in Your Own Life,
by Robert Fritz

The War of Art, by Steven Pressfield

These books are not just for artists – to me they are about humans as creative beings. We are always creating our experience of life, among other things. The ultimate question is what would you create if you consciously thought about it and then acted on that thinking without internal or external resistance?

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Interviews With Masters
Our First: Lynne McTaggart
We are compiling a series of “Interviews With Masters” – if you haven’t gotten our first recording and transcript with the amazing Lynne McTaggart, you can access those fr.ee resources here.
Lynne is a journalist by background who sought to understand the science behind the “metaphysical.” Much of the evidence in that realm is still empirical or even anecdotal, often defying proof through scientific method, yet is demonstrable and replicable. However woo-woo that may seem, here at Creating Legacy we love working with the invisible forces in the universe – like trimming sails to capture the invisible, but powerful wind. We want to master those intangibles physicists know and revere (precession, serendipity, synchronicity, heart intelligence, love …) that help us feel better and do better. If this intrigues you, Lynne’s work may as well.

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.

Are You or Your Staff More Stressed These Days?
Coping & Stress Profile®
Stress is a given, and some stress is even good for us. How we cope with it is the real issue. Do you know what your stressors and coping factors are? Would your staff members benefit from having a tool to support them in dealing with increased stress? 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. Using an engaging process of personal learning, it 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.

(If you have any difficulty accessing any of our materials, please contact Creating Legacy Executive Assistant, Kim McDaniels at Kim@CreatingLegacy.com)

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.