This is the kind of loaded question that makes people nervous. But I promise that if you make yourself think about it, you will begin to have a visceral image of what you really care about and what you would like your life to have represented. The idea is to be the master designer of your legacy and to think of your legacy as what’s in your heart—what you really love—right alongside what your mind is capable of accomplishing. Learn from the legacy of Alfred Nobel, who is best known for creating the Nobel Peace Prize. In fact, his most significant accomplishments during his lifetime were his invention of dynamite, explosives, and other inventions useful to the art of making war. At the time of his death he controlled factories for the manufacture of explosives in many parts of the world, but he was smart enough to ensure that his legacy was his greatest passion, which was world peace. Before he died, he set aside $9 million to set up a fund to establish yearly prizes for merit in physics, chemistry, medicine or physiology, literature, and world peace—the honor we know today as the Nobel Peace Prize.
