Have you had any changes in your life or career that have caused you to reflect and think about where you have been and where you are going?
I have had a big change in my career this year. After 8 years, I left my secure Fortune 500 company job and devoted myself to helping our community members learn, create and share at UpskillCreate.
At the age of 55, this can seem like a risky move, but not for me. Although it wasn’t my choice to leave my company job, I saw this as an opportunity to really help others secure their future.
Examples of people who changed their legacy
There’s another person who at the age of 55, was given the chance to change how they would change their legacy — Alfred Nobel.
Alfred Nobel was a Swedish inventor and had earned hundreds of patents. One of his most famous patents made him extremely rich – dynamite.
What was the event in Alfred’s life that caused him to change his legacy? His brother died in 1888 and a local newspaper mistook his brother’s name for Alfred’s name and printed this obituary for Alfred:
“The Merchant of Death. Dr. Alfred Nobel, who became rich finding ways to kill more people faster than ever before, died yesterday.”
Talk about a wakeup call!
After Alfred read this, he decided to make a change and used his fortune to fund the Nobel Peace Prize. He died at the age of 63, so in 8 years time, he totally changed his legacy.
Ironically, there’s another person who grew rich by killing people. His name was William Winchester. He grew rich from his family’s firearm empire built on the Winchester repeating rifle, “the gun that won the west”. It allowed the users to rapidly fire multiple rounds quickly.
The heir to the Winchester fortune was William’s wife, Sarah Winchester. She inherited $20 Million in 1881 which is over $500 Million in 2018 dollars. Instead of thinking how she could change her legacy, she instead lived in fear of the ghosts killed by the rifle and was instructed by a spiritual medium, that in order to keep the ghosts at bay, she would need to constantly build onto her house in San Jose, California.
Construction was constant for 38 years. This wasn’t normal construction though. Some oddities included stairwells leading to outside doors and halls leading to nowhere, all to confuse the ghosts as they looked for Sarah.
Sarah died in 1922 at the age of 81. And although she had 38 years from when she inherited her money to her death, the only legacy she has left is a tourist oddity called the Winchester Mystery House.
Compare for a moment, these two people.
Alfred Nobel used his fortune to promote peace. Sarah Winchester used her fortune to combat fear.
I have decided in this new adventure in my life, that I will choose a legacy of Giving to help others secure their future through UpskillCreate.
How do you want to change your legacy?
How will you use your remaining years to change your legacy? It’s never too late to get started.
“The best time to plant a tree was 10 years ago. The second best time is today!” (Ancient Chinese Proverb)
Learning is a journey of failures and mistakes. Without failures, you are not pushing your bounds of knowledge far enough.
Upskill Create is all about creating a lifestyle of continuous learning and then applying what you have learned to secure your future and create a life you love. Our mantra is Learn. Create. Share. Repeat!
We offer an engaging private community of fellow “Upskillers” to provide an environment where we can learn, collaborate and encourage each other in this journey. You can request an invitation to join this FREE community at the bottom of this post.
I hope you will join me,
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