Recently, I guided eight business owners through a discovery process.

Our focus being to uncover and begin creating their life’s legacy. The tapestry and impact they will leave behind when they take their final breath.

From that clarity, we began designing who they must become on a daily basis to bring this to life. It put a smile on my face to see so many curious, open-minded, big hearted people committed to this process.

As we stepped through the process, I saw shifts in every person on the call. Smiles continued to grow. The insights shared and discovered deepened their awareness of their life as it is now, and where it will go.

Each person chose one area of their life for this conversation after deisigning the end in mind. Many focused on the legacy of their business. Others, their closest family relationships.

What emerged in conversation was a fresh perspective on what mattered most, and what must change. Within this, we moved into what permission they must allow themselves to have to do it.

Often, we can be like kids still in school waiting for the teacher to give us a permission slip to the bathroom. That was reality for us in school, and many of us still live waiting for someone’s permission.

What is missing is our own permission to be, do, have what we want. One of the most challenging permission slips we can write ourselves is the one that says:

I give myself permission to want something different

Another big one:

I give myself permission to take the steps towards it

This internal permission is the starting point connecting our highest aspirations to implementation. To deliberately create a legacy, we must be willing to take the tiny steps along the way to get there. But first, we must know what road we are traveling.

If being clear on the impact you are leaving behind for your family, community, and world is important to you…

I will leave you with this:

What permission slip must you write for yourself today, to have that become a reality?