Moxie: Today Will Be Your Legacy

Legacy isn’t someday. It’s shaped by the small, consistent choices you make today.


(Jia Haixia and Jia Wenqi crossing the Ye River in Hebei Province, China.)

ONE STORY

In 2001, in a small Chinese village, two men were written off.

Jia Haixia was blind.
Jia Wenqi had no arms.

Unemployed.
Dismissed.
Considered burdens.

In the eyes of their community, they didn’t fit the model of what was useful. Their gifts went unseen. Their lives, overlooked.

But they refused to accept that story.

THE DECISION

They leased a stretch of land along a riverbank, land no one else wanted.

It wasn’t soil.
It wasn’t fertile.
It was rocks and sand.

And yet, they saw a forest.

At first, the goal was survival. The contract said that if the trees grew, the harvest would belong to them.
As Wenqi later admitted: “We indeed planted those trees for money originally.”

But then the daily work began to reshape them.

(Jia Haixia and Jia Wenqi planting a tree in 2014.)

Day after day.
Tree after tree.

Roots took hold.
Floodwaters slowed.
Wildlife returned.

It was no longer just about making a living.
It was about restoring life to the land.
It was about leaving something that would outlast them.

THE PARTNERSHIP

Their genius was how they worked together.

Haixia couldn’t see, but he could climb and dig.
Wenqi had no arms, but he steadied tools with his feet, carried water, and sensed the ground.

As Haixia put it: “I am his hands. He is my eyes. When we’re working together, we don’t feel disabled at all.”

Alone, each was incomplete for the task.
Together, they became whole.

One planted.
One watered.
One vision.

THE RESULT

And they did it daily.
Rain or shine.
Not for weeks. Not for months. For decades.

Over 10,000 trees.

A wasteland became a forest.
Floods stopped.
Birds returned.
Life came back.

As Wenqi said: “Perform for today, prepare for old age.”

Their work sustained them in the present.
And every tree they planted was a gift to the future.

This became their legacy.

The Brain Science

It turns out, your brain works the same way.

Not by flashes of brilliance.
Not by sudden breakthroughs.

But by small, daily choices that compound.

The science is called long-term potentiation.
Every time a neural pathway fires, it grows stronger.
Like roots pressing deeper into soil.

(The age-old "Intensity vs. Consistency" juxtaposition is a great analogy for long-term potentiation. Photo courtesy of 'GetMotivated'.)

And here’s the truth: you don’t build your future in theory.
You don’t create a legacy by waiting for the perfect moment.

You build it in the moments you almost quit, and don’t.
In the conversation you’d rather avoid, but choose anyway.
In the practice session you’d skip, but show up for.

Each repetition is a seed.
Each choice, a root.
Each day, a step toward the future you’re creating.

The forest doesn’t appear suddenly.
It grows slowly, almost invisibly –
Until one day you realize: this is your life.

This is your legacy.

📜 TWO QUOTES

“The future depends on what you do today.” – Mahatma Gandhi

“Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds that you plant.” – Robert Louis Stevenson

🚀 THREE TAKEAWAYS

1. Legacy isn’t someday. It’s today.
Don’t wait for the perfect moment or the “big break.” Your legacy is shaped in the small, consistent choices you make now. Pick one action that aligns with who you want to become, and do it today.

2. Stack the small.
Big wins are built from tiny repetitions. One rep. One call. One honest word. Alone, they look ordinary. Together, they create momentum. Choose one small practice to repeat daily, and protect it like it matters.

3. Protect the daily.
Endurance isn’t about bursts of intensity. It’s about what you refuse to skip. Decide on one non-negotiable you will carry into every day, no matter what. That’s where the forest begins.

🔍 MOXIE REFLECTIONS

• If your legacy was nothing more than today's inputs...compounded, would you be proud of it?

• What are you creating today that will still matter in 10 years?

• What vision are you chipping away at today, even though – and maybe especially if – no one sees it yet?

   

🛠️ TOOLS FOR GROWTH

🧩 PATTERN RECOGNITION: Temporal Discounting

Temporal Discounting is when your brain overvalues the immediate and undervalues the future. Comfort now feels more important than progress later.

It shows up in skipped workouts, delayed projects, abandoned practices. Essentially, all of the things that don’t pay off instantly.

The problem? Long-term potentiation, the way your brain builds lasting change, depends on repetition. Small actions, compounded over time.

Temporal Discounting breaks the chain before the roots take hold. You trade the forest for the feeling of the moment.

🧠 MENTAL SKILL OF THE WEEK: Future Self-Connection

Future Self-Connection is the skill of linking today’s actions to tomorrow’s outcomes.

Why it matters: Temporal Discounting tricks your brain into chasing comfort now and ignoring the future. Future Self-Connection makes the future feel real, so your choices today carry the weight they deserve.

How to use it:

• Visualize your life 10 years from now if you stay on today’s path.

•  Write a note from your future self thanking you (or warning you).

• Before a decision, ask: Will this help or hurt the person I’m becoming?

The paradox: The more you practice seeing decades in the daily, the easier it becomes to act with endurance. By making your future self vivid, you make wiser choices in the present.

🌱 ONE MORE THING

(Some of the 10,000 trees planted along the Ye River.)

We typically talk a lot about legacy in terms of what we build. The forest, the work, the results.

But legacy also lives in who you shape along the way. The teammate who picks up courage because they watched you do it. The child who learns persistence because they saw you show up. The colleague who raises their standard because yours was higher.

What outlasts you isn’t just the forest you plant.
It’s the people who learn to plant because of you.