Recently I was asked by a repeat client to give a speech on building legacy. This client, the founder of an insurance agency, wanted to drive home his main goal for 2026 and beyond: legacy. For him, all of his goals were now bundled into a single legacy-focused mantra, building a company where their children want to work.
He and his team know me well by now. They have conducted book reading clubs on Unstoppable Teams and Unstoppable Mindset and have used me to help them apply those leadership frameworks inside their company. I am proud to report they are succeeding. But this request made me pause.
What is legacy, and what does it have to do with goal setting?
I think of goal setting as the building blocks of legacy. Or said another way, legacy is the residue of your goal achievements, with a twist: legacy is not so much about how many different goals you achieved, but how you are remembered for how you achieved them. The “how” is the key element.
It is not what you did. It is how you made people feel while doing it. That is what powers remembrance. That is legacy.
There are a couple of hard truths about legacy. First, you do not have a choice in whether or not you leave one. Your life, and how you lived it, is your legacy. The choice you do have is what kind of legacy you want to leave. How do you want to be remembered?
Second, legacy is not something to wait on building. We are building it with every action we take, how we take those actions, and how those actions impact others. How long our legacy lasts after we have been “promoted” is directly correlated with what kind of impressions we have left on others. The key to building your legacy is being intentional.
I stumbled on that fact early in life thanks to my first Navy SEAL Commanding Officer.
After over three years of Navy SEAL training, my platoon and I had earned C-1 status. We were deemed combat ready to deploy as a Navy SEAL platoon. My first two platoons were mission focused using SEAL Delivery Vehicles, otherwise considered classified combat mini-submersibles.
The day before we were to deploy overseas, my CO summoned me to his office to discuss various do’s and don’ts in preparation for my first deployment. As our meeting ended, he asked me one more question: “LT Mills, where’s my letter?”
I quipped halfheartedly, “Ah sir, letter? What do you want, a birthday card?” He did not find it funny.
He explained, “Should you return on your shield, don’t leave me with nothing but a flag to hand to your next of kin. I want a letter on my desk before you step on that bird tomorrow. When you write it, know that it could be the very last piece of communication your loved ones will have from you, so make it good.”
I was still processing that when he followed up with a second order. “If you don’t come back on your shield but one of your teammates does, it won’t be me handing the flag to their family member. It will be you. I suggest you have them write letters too.”
The movie Navy SEALs starring Charlie Sheen debuted shortly before I started SEAL training. As a joke, our class would yell out “this wasn’t in the movie” anytime our instructors made us do something painful. I remember saying that phrase under my breath as I walked out of my CO’s office.
It started more like a will where I bequeathed my worldly possessions to Andrew, a dive watch and a jeep, to include its 39 monthly payments left on it.
After that, I tackled a few regrets. “Sorry bro for throwing that rock at your head in third grade.”
Finally, I arrived at the heart of the letter: the positive impact my parents and brother had on me. I reasoned that their support and unconditional love empowered me to die doing what I loved. I asked rhetorically, “How lucky am I? No need to cry for me, I’m thanking you from above.”
Writing that first “just in case” letter was my first encounter with the importance of legacy, and the realization that we are building it every single day through the actions we take and how we take them.
I wrote three of those letters during my time as a SEAL platoon commander. The process made me vigilant about the importance of not just what I do in my life, but how I live my life.
Think of legacy as being supported by a three legged stool. Legacy’s support beams are beliefs, behaviors, and service.
Beliefs are what we have decided to accept as our truths. Beliefs initiate action. What we believe drives us to take corresponding actions. Those actions based on our beliefs are called behaviors. Beliefs and behaviors are within our control. We can decide them. Think of them like a thought and action loop that builds upon itself.
Where legacy comes into play is where you decide to direct the energy of your beliefs and behaviors. Will you use that energy to serve yourself or to serve others?
Here is another hard legacy truth: the more you serve yourself, the shorter your legacy. The more you serve others, the longer and more powerful your legacy. When your beliefs and behaviors are aligned with serving others, your legacy grows day by day through the consistency of your actions.
This brings me back to my friend, client, and founder of an insurance business. He instinctively understands how legacy is built because he has been building it every day, every hour, for the last 13 years. Now he finds himself wanting to scale the legacy of his business.
He wanted me to put into words what he has been doing all along.
He does not care for public speaking. In fact, he will tell you it terrifies him. He is a doer, a leader by his daily actions. His focus moving forward is not about achieving specific SMART-based goals. Instead, he wants to roll up the purpose of all those goals into a legacy where his teammates, yes he calls his employees teammates, and their children want to come to work.
That is legacy thinking.
For this keynote, which I entitled Unstoppable Legacy, we set out my “just in case” letter book, my first book called Be Unstoppable: The 8 Essential Actions to Succeed at Anything. This book was inspired by those letters. I call it my legacy book.
We placed a book and pen at each person’s seat, and I crafted the keynote to include using the book as a workbook. I asked the audience to answer three questions to help them be more intentional about building a better legacy for themselves and for the business they are a part of.
I want to share those questions with you.
1. Beliefs: What are the beliefs I want to be remembered for? List three.
2. Behaviors: How do I want to show up every day at work and at home? List three actions.
3. Service: People will remember me as someone who always __________.
Legacy is not something we wait to build. It is the residue of our daily actions.
Be intentional about how you work toward your goals and how you serve others. Watch what happens. You, like my insurance friend, will achieve more than you ever dreamed possible. Legacy is your choice.
Be Unstoppable at building it.
Alden