The Lesson in Legos
Only You Know What You are Building
I promise I’ll get to the Lego part in a moment. First, I’ve been thinking about success lately and what it means to me. I mean, I've really gone deep and thought about my life. Success, for me, has changed so much through the years.
When I was 22, as a young reporter making 17-thousand dollars a year, I set a goal to make 30K by the time I was thirty. That, to me, would be success!
When I hit 30, I had exceeded that goal by more than threefold. I was a news anchor, married, had a child and another on the way, and I had just bought my first house. In my thirties, success meant having all the traditional markers of a ‘family life’, the husband, the house, the dog, the cars, the boat, the kids. I thought, this is success!
In my 40’s, after a divorce, remarriage, and leaving a job in TV for Tech, success evolved into finding ‘happiness’ in both my work and my personal life. Success meant fearlessly trying new things and having confidence in my journey. I set goals that included college tuitions and financial planning.
As I started my 50’s, with three kids off in college, financial stability felt like success. Physically, I had even completed a sprint- triathlon and cycled 250 miles. I thought I had made it!
Like my 22-year-old self, I set a new target for success, by 60 I wanted to have all 3 college tuitions paid in full, all our cars and the house paid off. That would be success! I achieved those goals before turning 55 and I realized – you don’t ever get to ‘I made it. The notion of ‘making it’ is ever evolving.
I had to redefine success once more. I say ‘had to’ because that is how I am wired. And perhaps dear reader - you may be wired the same way. We are not content to sit on the sidelines and watch others make their dreams come true. We want to be in the game.
I promise I am getting to the Legos.
Today, success is about my health, helping others, and finding joy each day. Not necessary in that order. Having been an elite athlete, I’ve set some lofty physical goals. I want to be able to hold a handstand for 30 seconds and cycle 200 miles when I am 60. Having been in corporate leadership, I have specific financial goals and business targets. Yes, I set quarterly targets and KPI’s that I will track.
I have switched from what success in life looks like, to what I think a successful lifetime looks like.
Think about these phrases:
“He is a success." (What images come to mind?)
“He’s had a successful lifetime.” (What images come to mind?)
I am guessing the images are not the same.
Ok – to the Lego’s now. I use the Lego Company as an epic example of Resilience in one of my keynotes. It’s a company that has adapted to change from blocks to bytes. It has evolved from wooden blocks in the 1930’s to plastic blocks, Lego sets, Legoland, Franchises, Lego movies, Video Games, Robotics, VR Experiences, and recently they started creating AI Education kits for schools.
Here are a few facts for you: Lego had been struggling when the first Lego movie came out, and that movie made more than 640 million dollars. Today, Lego is the most valuable toy brand in the world, valued at 7.4 billion in 2023.
After a recent keynote, I got into a fun conversation about Legos with a CEO who was attending the conference. We started talking about how we both grew up playing with Legos and how our children played with them. At one point, we were standing in the conference hall, moving our arms like robots, and singing, “Everything is Awesome”. The people near us overheard and did the same, stiff arm movements and laughed and sang as well. Yes, grownups acting like kids and laughing about our kids. He commented that maybe this was success, being an adult and being able to openly act like a kid.
For those who have not seen the Lego Movie. The theme song is ‘Everything is Awesome’, and it is hard not to smile when it comes on. The cartoon movie delves into the real-life relationship between a father and son. The father has glued together his Lego creations and has them in the basement with signs that say, ‘Do Not Touch’, but his son creates an imaginary world by rebuilding all the pieces into creative things and continuously playing out stories. The premise of the movie is the idea that everyone can be ‘special’ in their own way and there is a balance between structure and creativity. (That’s my lame attempt at explaining this magical movie – rent it tonight!)
The Lego movie is a wonderful way to think about resilience and success. What does success look like to each of us? Who do we want to be?
I believe we need to be creative ‘Master Builders’ in our lives and we are not building a successful lifetime, by building or acquiring perfect things and keeping them to ourselves.
I asked Chat GPT to use my Resilience message that I share from the stage and come up with a fun start to this post about Legos. I obviously didn’t use its suggestion, but here’s what it gave me. (I hadn’t even thought about the painful part. If you’re a parent, you get it)
"Life is a lot like a box of Lego bricks—colorful, sometimes painful when you step on them, but ultimately, it’s what you build with them that matters. Success isn’t just about stacking the blocks high; it’s about how you rebuild when your masterpiece falls apart. That’s the magic of resilience: turning life’s bricks, no matter how they tumble, into the castle of your dreams."
Pretty good! Go AI! Even artificial intelligence knows Legos are a symbol of Resilience and an example of innovation, creativity, play, and fun.
Now to the point. AI would not make the same thing you would with a stack of Lego bricks, neither would I, only YOU can do that. You have to create your own instructions.
Only you know what success looks like to you. Only you can make your life into a Successful Lifetime.
Now go play!