At the highest level of satisfaction, the focus shifts from building to becoming.
This is Level 6: Flourishing and Legacy — where all the forms of wealth you’ve accumulated begin to work together in service of others.
What This Level Means
Flourishing isn’t about more — it’s about refinement. It’s the quiet confidence that comes when your work, relationships, and values align.
Legacy is not simply what you leave behind — it’s how you live today in a way that multiplies impact long after you’re gone. It’s mentorship, stewardship, and faith made visible through action.
At this level, satisfaction becomes less about growth for yourself and more about growth through others.
In From Strength to Strength: Finding Success, Happiness, and Deep Purpose in the Second Half of Life by Arthur Brooks, this transition is described as moving from striving to wisdom — from chasing personal achievement to nurturing collective impact. Flourishing begins when success becomes about significance.
Why It Matters
Many people spend their lives climbing the ladder of achievement — but true fulfillment comes when you start holding the ladder for someone else.
Legacy transforms success into significance. It ensures that your knowledge, your resources, and your lessons become fuel for the next generation.
As The 5 Types of Wealth: A Transformative Guide to Design Your Dream Life by Sahil Bloom highlights, spiritual and social wealth are the cornerstones of lasting satisfaction. Financial success may open doors, but purpose-driven generosity and mentorship are what keep them open for others.
Flourishing is the integration of all the earlier levels — security, freedom, joy, connection, and purpose — into a life of wisdom and giving.
The Forms of Wealth That Shape Legacy
- Intellectual Wealth: Sharing your knowledge through teaching, writing, or mentoring.
- Social Wealth: Empowering your network and creating opportunities for others.
- Financial Wealth: Using your resources to support meaningful causes or build structures that outlive you.
- Spiritual Wealth: Peace, gratitude, and humility grounded in faith and service.
As Brooks teaches, when we stop competing and start contributing, we gain something far more enduring than accolades — we gain serenity.
Practical Ways to Build Flourishing and Legacy
- Pass it on intentionally. Create scholarships, mentorship programs, or systems that transfer your wisdom.
- Steward your time wisely. Focus on mentoring, guiding, and empowering others to lead.
- Step down gracefully. Let others rise while you guide and advise from behind the scenes.
- Keep learning. True mastery is sustained curiosity, not final expertise.
After decades in leadership, I’ve learned this truth: you can’t truly measure success until you see the people you’ve helped succeed.
For me, that includes my faith, my family, and my team. Your children are your most important legacy. Your marriage is the foundation of theirs. Your presence with God — that’s the root of every good thing you’ll ever give away.
Never underestimate the power of time spent in prayer, mentorship, or simply being present with those who need you. Those minutes are never wasted — they’re multiplied.
Common Tensions
- Control vs. release. True legacy requires letting go of ownership and trusting others to carry the torch.
- Success vs. surrender. Flourishing isn’t about perfection — it’s about peace with what you’ve built and who you’ve become.
As From Strength to Strength reminds us, fulfillment in later seasons of life isn’t about fading away — it’s about rising differently. When we exchange ambition for wisdom, striving for stillness, we begin to flourish.
Quick Exercise
List three non-monetary assets you can pass on this year — a skill, a network connection, or your time. Then choose one young person or peer to invest in intentionally.
Legacy isn’t a future goal. It’s a present practice.
Closing Thought
At this summit, satisfaction isn’t measured in wealth or status — it’s measured in impact, peace, and gratitude.
A flourishing life is one that inspires others to climb their own hierarchy — stronger, wiser, and more connected because you were here.
In the final article of this series, we’ll bring it all together in Level 7: Integration — building a balanced portfolio of satisfaction and designing a life that remains meaningful through every season.