Stephen Covey in his book, “First Things First,” says human beings have four needs: to live, to learn, to love, to leave a legacy.

Deep down inside of you, you have a need to leave a legacy. You want to know there is something you can give to this world to make it a better place now and continue to do so when you are gone.

What is your speaking legacy? Is it to give encouragement to the young person who wants to be a doctor but sees no way to afford college tuition. Is it to give hope to the single mother who has more month at the end of her money? Is it simply to instill in others anything is possible if they have the persistence to never stop pursuing their goals.

I can’t tell from this newsletter what your speaking legacy is, but I can suggest three ways to make sure your speaking legacy transcends your days on this wonderful earth of ours.

The ways to leave a legacy as a speaker are writing and publishing a book, starting a podcast, and creating and posting videos on your YouTube channel.

Write a Book

The idea of writing a book to most people seems overwhelming.

Do you ever go to your library, your favorite “brick and mortar” bookstore, or online bookstore and see so many books in nice packages all organized in the table of contents with beautiful covers and images inside? We all do.

Did you ever wonder how much effort it takes to write and publish a book like those beautiful books – the writing and revising, laying out the book, the design of the cover and a hundred more things? Have you ever said to yourself, “I could never do that!”

Henry Ford once said, “Whether you think you can or think you can’t, you’re right!” Your internal thoughts determine whether you can or cannot. As Earl Nightingale said in his best-selling audio program “Lead the field, “You become what you think about.”

I had a neighbor for nineteen years. Jack graduated from West Point and had an illustrious career in the U.S. Army. When he retired, he went to work for the EDS corporation. Jack’s specialty was helping companies to overcome their information technology (IT) challenges. One of his clients was a banking firm in Germany. This firm had encountered a severe IT challenge they did not know how to overcome.

They asked Jack how they were going to overcome this considerable obstacle. He told his client they were going to solve this challenge like eating an elephant – one small piece at a time.

Jack and the firm did end up solving the IT challenge. Jack traveled back to the U.S. and about a month later a large stone elephant was delivered to Jack’s home with a note saying, “Thanks for helping us eat the elephant.”

The moral of the story is that any big job you face can be done if you figure out what the pieces are, make a plan to accomplish them, and then implement your plan. It is no different with writing and publishing a book.

Writing and publishing my new book, “Speak Well and Prosper: Tips, Tools, and Techniques for Better Presentations” was no different. In the speaking world, there is a technique used to save enormous time. It is called “repurpose.” Repurpose the content you develop (e.g., newsletters, podcasts, videos, etc.) in other ways. In the instance of my book, I used my weekly newsletter for the chapters in my book. This method allowed me to “eat the elephant one bite at a time.”

BTW, my book, “Speak Well and Prosper: Tips, Tools, and Techniques for Better Presentations” will be published on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Books-A-Million on Saturday, 30 January 2021. It is available for pre-order right now.

As a special offer to my faithful readers, the ebook version will be available on Amazon.com for $0.99 on and only on Saturday, 30 January 2021. I encourage you to purchase the softcover or hardcover also. However, I request you buy the ebook on Saturday, 30 January 2021 also. Buying it on this day will considerably boost the book in the rankings of several Amazon categories.

So, a book is within your reach as a speaker. All you have to do is weekly write your thoughts, create a podcast, or post a video about your subject. Repurpose the material from your writing, podcasts, and videos to form the chapters of your book. It is simpler than you think. The key is consistency in posting content weekly!

A great book to read on writing a book using your blogs is “Blog 2 Book: Repurposing Content to Discover the Book You’ve Already Written,” by Cathy Fyock

I have spent a good bit of time on covering how a book is one of the best ways to leave a legacy.

If you want your voice to carry on after you are gone, you want to start a podcast and release episodes on a recurring basis.

Record a Podcast

Do you want your grandchildren, great grandchildren, and great great grandchildren to learn from the thoughts of their grandparent, great grandparent, or great great grandparent? Wouldn’t you want them to listen to your wisdom so they can have a happy and fulfilled life? Of course, you would!

You may want to explore getting your word out using podcasts. No doubt you have heard of podcasts. But how do you start a podcast?

As an example of repurposing your content, I talked about in the last section, the next two sections are some words I wrote on podcasts and videos in my 27 December 2020 newsletter.

Podcasts follow many formats like interviewing someone, talking about issues of the day, or reviewing the latest computer technology, just to name a few.

There are numerous books, web sites, and online videos on podcasting. The following is from “The Step-by-Step Guide: How to Start a Podcast:”

• Step 1 – Develop a podcast concept

• Step 2 – Choose your podcast format

• Step 3 – Select and procure your podcast recording equipment and software

• Step 4 – Recording your first episode

• Step 5 – Editing and uploading your first episode

• Step 6 – Developing podcast artwork, categories and show notes

• Step 7 – Getting listed in Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and Spotify

• Step 8 – Launch your podcast

Podcasting expands the number of people who will consider you the expert in your field and, of course, records your thoughts on subjects for posterity.

Words people read in your books and your words they hear are great for leaving your legacy to present and future generations.

As mesmerizing as your written and spoken words can be, there may be nothing that affects your legacy as much as your videos posted on the Internet for the world to see and learn from and to last for future generations.

Post Your Videos

Integrating your writing, your voice, and your video is one of the most powerful methods to create your legacy.

In the 1993 film, My Life, Michael Keaton plays an expectant father who has a rare disease that will eventually kill him. Fearing his unborn son may never get to benefit from his life advice, he sets off on an odyssey to record himself, at that time on video tape, teaching all the lessons he would teach his son if he had lived long enough for his son to understand what he was saying. It is a touching story.

Michael Keaton’s character does live long enough to see his son born, but sadly does die from his rare disease before his son could understand his life’s lessons. However, his son will still learn from his father through his father’s videos. Nicole Kidman plays the role of his wife. She is heartwarming in this role.

What a powerful way to leave your legacy to your progeny! You can leave the same legacy to your children, your friends, and the world by capturing your wisdom on video and posting it online.

In the spirit of repurpose, you have all seen and read many newsletters. They show up in your inbox on a regular basis. Some are very relevant to your speaking. Some not so much. For the rest, you will search for the unsubscribe link.

I have already pointed out how videos are a great way for you to leave a legacy. Some people would rather watch a video than read your newsletter or listen to your podcast. They want to see you as an actual person telling them your thoughts. Why not let them do this by posting your videos.

If you do not have one already, create a YouTube channel for yourself. Rather than explaining here how to do this, refer to How to Create a YouTube Channel & Make the Most of YouTube’s Billion-User Network to create and post your videos to your YouTube channel.

We have explored three ways for you as a speaker to leave your legacy: (1) writing a book (2) starting a podcast, and (3) posting videos on your YouTube channel.

You want to know there is something you can give to this world to make it a better place now and continue to do so when you are gone.

What is your speaking legacy?

Call to Action

• Make detailed plans including a schedule to repurpose your existing content and write the book in you.

• Create and post your own podcasts. It is simpler than you think.

• Create your own YouTube channel and post videos of you imparting your wisdom. This is easier than you think also.