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Note: This is a guest post by Anthony Lee

“If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.” – Henry David Thoreau

Every time period has in the annuls of its history a handful of the most memorable, the most magnificent, the most legendary individuals and organizations.

There are only a small few people who are dedicated enough to the path of personal growth to take on the task of becoming legendary. For those that succeed, the rewards are nearly incomprehensible for the average man or woman.

Even those that simply attempt to traverse this path find themselves reaping massive benefit. Much like the old saying, “if you shoot for the moon and miss, you still hit the stars.” Cliché, but true.

What Does It Mean To Be Legendary?

You might need to answer this question before you can try to attain such a title.

Dictionary.com defines the word legendary as, “of, pertaining to, or in the nature of a legend.”

Legend is defined as “a non-historic or unverifiable story handed down from earlier times and popularly accepted as historical.”

Did you catch that? Popularly accepted as historical. That means that to become legendary, one must create such a story around oneself that people tell it so that it becomes accepted by the masses as history. And it doesn’t even have to be historical fact.

Let us now look at a modern list of figures and organizations that could debatably be considered legendary:

• Bill Gates and Microsoft
• Mahatma Ghandi
• Google
• Martin Luther King, Jr.
• Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook
• Shakespeare
• Steve Jobs and Apple

You may be confused by my inclusion of some people on this list. It seems rather diverse. Many people may look at a list that includes Martin Luther King and Ghandi and contextually conclude that legendary must simply refer to the great altruistic contributors to society that had no connection or desire to profit from their contribution.

This short list is an example to help define what I am referring to when using the term legendary. These are people who had a vision and stayed the course to see its realization. That, of course, isn’t the only criteria. Many great men and women had a vision and made it come true. That didn’t make them legendary. These individuals and businesses mentioned above also contributed a tremendous level of value to society. This is enough to mark them as great, but what separates them into the legendary category is that they also changed the way society thought or acted on a subject.

These people and organizations actually changed the way things were done. Ghandi and King both changed the way entire races of people were treated by their governments and by society as a whole. Shakespeare changed the way people viewed the arts. Bill Gates had a vision that a computer would be in every home in America one day, and Microsoft has changed the way we communicate, the price of technology, the way we interact with businesses, and a number of other things. Thanks to Mark Zuckerberg and others like him, social networks have changed the way we communicate and interact with each other, with businesses, and even governments. Apple has changed the way people use and accessibility of technology around the world.

So, it is clear that to become legendary, one must affect change.

To further facilitate a definition, we shall look at a 3-step grading scale.

First is remarkableness. To be remarkable, one must be different than others, but in an interesting way. This usually entails a high degree of dedication. Ingenuity, creativity, and focus are all crucial to reaching this level.

Next comes the awesomeness. To become awesome, one must not only be remarkable, but also extremely individual. You see, the main difference here is that one can stand out as remarkable by finding a need and filling it. One can be remarkable by looking for a way to serve others. (Even though you’re focused on helping others, this can still be profitable.) However, being awesome is where you do not seek specifically improvement for the benefit of others. Instead, you cultivate passion within yourself for something, and allow others to follow. You can still serve others, but it will only be those that seek you out because you offer what they already want. Your primary focus is becoming the best at what you do. Being awesome is a bit more selfish and less profit-driven.

To enter the realm of the legendary, you must change the world.

Major multi-billion dollar corporations were listed amongst the legendary, so to say they are less profit-driven may seem unrealistic. Let me be clear: I believe that their actions as profit-driven companies were disconnected from that which caused them to become legendary.

Being legendary is about serving people, much like being remarkable, but on a higher level. It is about changing the world around you to serve EVERYONE, not just serving a niche for the purpose of profit. Not that profit seeking is bad; on the contrary, profit seeking is great, but seeking profit will not make you legendary (unless you are Warren Buffet).

Ayn Rand was a legendary author, because she sought to educate the world on a philosophical ideal that would make people’s lives better. Her motivation was entirely selfish, as she chose to do this so she could hopefully “make society more tolerable,” but nonetheless, she changed the world, writing the second most-read book in America.

The earlier mentioned tech companies and giants sought to create the greatest technologies. True, they profited tremendously from them, but I believe in these company’s cases, the technologies born weren’t a result of attempting to create something that could be profited from. The profit was a byproduct of a staunch dedication to quality and excellence. The products made were for the sake of creating something magnificent.

Now you can see what it means to be legendary.

How Does One Become Legendary?

Craft a grand vision.

An important step in the process is to have a clear vision of the change you wish to make or the magnificence you wish to create. For example, my vision is to one day help many others have a better understanding of their true potential. I envision one day helping millions unlock their inner geniuses and helping them to find where their true passion lies so that they can become the best version of themselves. Doing this would affect major change in the world, as it would be fuller of happy and massively productive people. Then I will have essentially created an army of super soldiers (kidding…sort of). This is my vision.

“A dream will always triumph over reality, once it is given the chance.” – Stanislaw Jerzy Lec

See it through to completion.

This should be obvious. Furthermore, if you have the passion necessary to craft the kind of vision I just spoke of, quitting would never cross your mind. However, for the purposes of outlining a definable set of steps, this was necessary. You have to see your vision through.

Think about it. What if Dr. King had ever given up in his fight to win civil rights for African Americans? What if Steve Jobs had decided not to start Apple, and give some of the most capable and innovative technological developers the ways and means to create? The point here is clear….never give up on your vision.

Albert Einstein, one of the most legendary thinkers of all time, is quoted as saying “It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer.”

American president, Calvin Coolidge said that “Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan ‘press on’ has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.”

Change the world.

Seems a lot easier said than done. Well, surely it is, otherwise everyone would do it. However, here is an interesting thought…what if everyone tried? Just being the person who inspired the world to try and change itself could land you bona fide legendary status. Maybe it isn’t as hard as it appears, if you just care enough to make a mark, and go after it with passion.

As Earl Nightingale once said, “Just one idea can change your life,
one changed life can affect the whole world".
 

Author Bio: Anthony Lee is the author of Get Limitless where he inspires people to unlock their inner genius. If you enjoyed this article you can subscribe to his newsletter here.