Blogging to leave a legacy

“It sometimes seems that the writers in “Legacy,” Daniel Goldfarb’s fine new play at Williamstown Theatre Festival, are interested in their own lives primarily as raw material.”

This from the Boston Globe’s Don Aucoin (@globeaucoin) stage review entitled “Writing and living with an eye on the future.”

Do lawyers and look to their own lives for blog material? Perhaps not in the Seinfeld way of a show about nothing other than the day to day existance of four people, but there’s no question that the life of a lawyer gets woven into their blog.

A lawyer’s views, takes, insight, experiences, learning, and even personal affairs become part of a good blog over time. It’s what makes the blogger genuine and authentic, establishes trust with readers and what makes the blog and blogger interesting.

“Relying on writing to give meaning to your existence is a decidedly risky proposition,” per Aucoin. But it gives us “some way to project our selves and our stories into the future.”

Stephen Covey, author of the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, talked about one’s spiritual need to leave a legacy — to have a sense of meaning, purpose, personal congruence, and contribution.

I can think of any number of lawyers who are leaving a legacy through blogging. Meaning, purpose and contribution, maybe not intended when they began, are the result of their blogging.

So when penning those blog posts think about more than Web traffic and business development, think about the legacy you are leaving.

A legacy that will have meaning to both the people you reached and your loved ones who will have witnessed your passion, comittment, desire to help and life long learning.

Image courtesy of Flickr by Miguel Virkkunen