Legacy · Life Design · HourLife Premium
Write down what your life should add up to, and check today against it.
Write four short documents about what you want to leave behind, seal letters to your future self, and check today against your long-term anchor.
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Four documents, revised for yearsMy contribution, My inheritance, How I lived and What I am building each start as a prompt. Every change keeps the earlier wording under “VERSION HISTORY”, dated the month it was replaced.
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Letters that stay sealedA time capsule opens in 6 months, a year, 5 years or on a day you pick. Until then its envelope shows only the month it opens and how long is left, and search shows no more than that.
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Today, measured against the long runThe Altitude Map takes your North Star goal as its anchor and counts how many of today’s tasks and habits lead up to it, through any goal in between.
Your first document
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Open the Legacy tab
Legacy opens on "Altitude Map". Tap "Legacy" beside it for the four documents.
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Start with My contribution
Tap "MY CONTRIBUTION", then "Edit", and write what you want to have given to the world. "Take your time." is the only instruction.
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Come back to revise
Edit it again next year. The earlier wording moves to "VERSION HISTORY", and the card reads "Written … · revised …".
Every step, in detail
- 1 Open the "Legacy" tab and tap "MY CONTRIBUTION". Tap "Edit" and write what you want to have given to the world.
- 2 Do the same for "MY INHERITANCE", "HOW I LIVED", and "WHAT I AM BUILDING" when you are ready.
- 3 Open "Letters" and tap "+ Write a new letter". Give it a topic, write it, and choose when it unseals.
- 4 Come back to "Altitude Map" to see whether today's work connects to your long-term anchor.
Does your today connect to your legacy?
Legacy opens on the Altitude Map. It takes one long-term goal as its anchor and asks of each task due today and each habit on today’s list whether it climbs to that goal. A task linked to a quarterly goal counts if that goal sits under a yearly one that sits under the anchor.
Sample · nine goals and today’s eight items, on Tuesday, Oct 20, 2026 · pin a different goal, or link an item somewhere else
- Lifetime · anchorBuild a life of creative independence and meaningful work
- Yearly · anchorLaunch v1 of HourLife
- Quarterly · anchorShip the public beta by December
- Lifetime · anchorStay strong into my eighties
- Yearly · anchorBe in the best shape of my life
- Quarterly · anchorRun a half marathon in spring
- Yearly · anchorRead 24 books
- Yearly · anchorHold a conversation in Spanish
- Yearly · anchorSave six months of expenses
- Block 9–11am as daily focus window in calendar✓ Task
- Write weekly review✓ Task
- Draft launch email subject lines✓ Task
- Research deep work scheduling techniques✓ Task
- Quick inbox triage before standup✓ Task complete
- Morning run↻ Habit complete
- Read 20 pages↻ Habit
- Write 500 words↻ Habit
Does your today connect to your legacy?
LONG-TERM ANCHOR- 1Block 9–11am as daily focus window in calendarTask · Build a life of creative independence and meaningful work
- 3Draft launch email subject linesTask · Ship the public beta by December
- 4Research deep work scheduling techniquesTask · Launch v1 of HourLife
- 8Write 500 wordsHabit · Build a life of creative independence and meaningful work
No habits or tasks today point at this anchor yet.
- 6Morning runHabit complete · Run a half marathon in spring
- 7Read 20 pagesHabit · Read 24 books
- 2Write weekly reviewTask · no goal link
- 5Quick inbox triage before standupTask complete · no goal link
Link today’s items
In the app, a task or a habit takes its goal on its own page. Change one here and the map, the tiles and the lists follow.
- The anchor is the North Star: the pinned goal. Only one goal is pinned at a time, and pinning another asks to replace it. With nothing pinned, the map takes a lifetime goal, and with none of those, any goal.
- An item points at the anchor when its goal is the anchor, or sits under it through any number of parent goals.
- Linked elsewhere means a goal outside that chain, even another lifetime goal. Unmapped means no goal at all.
- Aligned is the items pointing at the anchor out of all of today’s, rounded. A done item still counts.
Today’s items are the tasks whose due date is today and the habits on today’s list; a task with no date, or one due tomorrow, is not on the map. The app does not sort goals before it looks, so with nothing pinned and two lifetime goals, which one anchors is not fixed. Pin one in Goals to settle it. With no goals at all, the anchor card reads “Set a North Star goal to anchor this map.”
From 50,000 feet down to the runway
Under the map, the Altitude Ladder sets five levels one above the other: what you want to leave behind, who you are, what you stand for, this year, and today. Each card shows the first few lines of its level. Tap one for the whole list.
Sample · the same legacy, values and goals · open a rung for what its popup shows
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LEGACYOpen ▾Close ▴ I want to leave behind tools that help people make clearer decisions under press...
The popup lists the whole document
- I want to leave behind tools that help people make clearer decisions under pressure. I also want the work to feel humane and useful.
The first 80 characters of “My contribution”, cut where they fall. The popup shows the whole document.
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IDENTITYOpen ▾Close ▴ I am a builder who finishes what I startI am a present, patient parentI am someone who keeps learning
The popup lists all 3
- I am a builder who finishes what I start
- I am a present, patient parent
- I am someone who keeps learning
Every active identity, from Values. The card and the popup hold the same list.
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VALUESShow all 6 ▾Close ▴ I keep learning and stay curious — books, courses, and real-world practice.I tell the truth, even when it costs me.I protect my mornings for the work that matters.I show up for the people I love.I leave things better than I found them.
The popup lists all 6
- I keep learning and stay curious — books, courses, and real-world practice.
- I tell the truth, even when it costs me.
- I protect my mornings for the work that matters.
- I show up for the people I love.
- I leave things better than I found them.
- I take care of my body so it can carry me far.
The first five active values on the card, all of them in the popup.
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THIS YEARShow all 5 ▾Close ▴ Launch v1 of HourLifeBe in the best shape of my lifeRead 24 books
The popup lists all 5
- Launch v1 of HourLife
- Be in the best shape of my life
- Read 24 books
- Hold a conversation in Spanish
- Save six months of expenses
The first three yearly goals on the card, up to eight in the popup.
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TODAYShow all 8 ▾Close ▴ Block 9–11am as daily focus window in calendarWrite weekly reviewDraft launch email subject linesResearch deep work scheduling techniquesQuick inbox triage before standup
The popup lists all 8
- Block 9–11am as daily focus window in calendar
- Write weekly review
- Draft launch email subject lines
- Research deep work scheduling techniques
- Quick inbox triage before standup
- Morning run
- Read 20 pages
- Write 500 words
The first five of today’s tasks and habits, in the map’s order. The popup lists them all.
The five levels
Legacy Settings keeps a key to the ladder, in the app’s own words.
- LegacyWhat you want to leave behind in the world
- IdentityWho you are and how you define yourself
- ValuesThe principles that guide your decisions
- This YearYour annual goals and intentions
- TodayYour current daily priorities
The ladder only reads. LEGACY is “My contribution”, IDENTITY and VALUES come from Values, THIS YEAR from your yearly goals, and TODAY from the same items as the map. Values and yearly goals are taken in the order they are stored, not sorted, so which five and which three come first can change. A level with nothing in it reads “Not yet written”, today’s included.
What you leave behind
The Legacy tab holds four documents, each with a prompt to answer: what you want to have given to the world, what you want to pass on, one honest sentence about the life, and the work that outlasts you. Every save keeps the wording it replaces, so the history shows how the answer changed.
Sample · the four documents, set up in April 2026 · open one, edit it, and save it now or in a later month
Last visited: Oct 20, 2026
Revisit during your yearly review.
There is no urgency here.
What I want to have given to the world
Written Apr 2026 · Revised Oct 2026
One honest sentence. Written in the past tense as if looking back.
I want to leave behind tools that help people make clearer decisions under pressure. I also want the work to feel humane and useful.
- Oct 2026
I want to leave behind tools that help people make clearer decisions under pressure.
- Jul 2026
Ship systems that reduce friction for meaningful work.
Every wording, and how long it stood
Each line is one document. A bar is one wording, from the day it was written to the save that replaced it; the solid bar is the one you read now. A dot is a save that kept the old text.
- MY CONTRIBUTION
- MY INHERITANCE
- HOW I LIVED
- WHAT I AM BUILDING
- Save keeps the old text, dated by the month of the save, and the page shows “Revised” from then on.
- Saving the same words, or the same words with spaces around them, changes nothing.
- Clearing a document is a save like any other: the old text goes into the history, and the card reads “Not yet written — tap to begin”.
“Written” is the month the four prompts were set up, the first time Legacy opened, not the day you first wrote an answer. The history lists the replaced wordings newest first, each by month; it opens and closes with VERSION HISTORY. A document can hold headings and lists when it is written on the Mac. “Reset legacy prompts”, in Settings, clears the four documents and restores the original prompts; letters are kept.
Letters to your future self
A letter is a time capsule. You give it a topic, write it, and choose when it may be read: in six months, a year, five years, or on a day of your own. Until then it waits on the Letters tab as a sealed envelope, with the month it opens and how long is left.
Sample · four letters, one already opened, on Tuesday, Oct 20, 2026 · drag the day on, open an envelope, or write a new one
- To my future self — open in one yearOct 2025 → Oct 2026
- For the morning after launchSep 2026 → Dec 2026
- Read this next OctoberOct 2026 → Oct 2027
- To my 40-year-old selfAug 2026 → Mar 2031
Write to your future self. Time capsules remain sealed until the day you choose, giving you perspective across time.
To my future self — open in one year
Written Oct 2025
🔓 This time capsule has been unsealed.
If you’re reading this, I hope you protected your mornings and your relationships.
This letter will be locked and unreadable until the selected date arrives.
Sealed Capsules
3 waiting to be opened
These letters show only as sealed envelopes. Their words stay hidden, in Legacy and in search, until the day they unlock.
A sealed envelope can be opened early, but its page shows only the lock and the day it unlocks, and its version history stays hidden. The seal is in the app alone: letters sync with the rest of your data, and their text is not encrypted. Here the day you drag is read at 8 in the morning, and the sample letters were sealed in the evening, so on its day a letter still says “later today”. Search finds a sealed letter by its title alone, with the month it opens; its words are left out until its day comes, then found without an edit. “Reset legacy prompts”, in Settings, leaves the letters alone.
Tips
- Revise a document rather than rewriting it from scratch. The old version stays in its history.
- Use a five-year capsule for the letter you would most like to read later.
- If the Altitude Map lists many tasks under "Unmapped today", link a few of them to a goal from the task itself.
Questions
About Legacy day to day.
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Can I read a time capsule before its date?
No. Until the day it opens, a letter shows a lock, “This time capsule is sealed.” and the date it unlocks, and it cannot be edited. Search finds it by its title and “Opens” month only; its words join search on the day it opens.
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What happens to my old answer when I revise a document?
It is kept under “VERSION HISTORY”, newest first, with the month it was replaced. Saving the same text again adds nothing.
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What does “aligned” mean on the Altitude Map?
A task due today, or a habit due today, is aligned when its goal is the anchor or sits under it, however many levels down. The percentage is aligned items out of all of today’s.
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Which goal is the anchor?
Your North Star, the pinned lifetime goal. With no North Star, a lifetime goal stands in, and with no lifetime goal, any goal. With no goals at all, the map asks you to set one.
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How far ahead can I seal a letter?
In 6 months, in 1 year, in 5 years, or on any date from today on with “Custom Date”.
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Can I start over?
Yes, for the four documents. Settings > “Reset legacy prompts” deletes what you wrote in them and restores the four original prompts, blank. Your letters and time capsules are kept. It cannot be undone.
Works with
Where Legacy hands off to the rest of HourLife.
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Goals
Your North Star goal is the anchor of the Altitude Map. Without one, a lifetime goal is, and "THIS YEAR" lists your yearly goals.
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Tasks
Tasks due today are sorted on the Altitude Map by whether their goal leads up to the anchor.
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Habits
Today's habits appear on the Altitude Map alongside tasks.
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Values
Identities and values form two rungs of the altitude ladder between Legacy and This Year.
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Compass
The yearly review in Compass has a "Legacy & Anti-Goals" step for what this year should mean later. It is written in the review, not in Legacy.
Read and try
Books from the library that Legacy puts into practice, and something to try on paper or in the browser.
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Tuesdays with Morrie Mitch Albom Weekly conversations about what matters with a teacher who knew he was dying, the questions Legacy asks.
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The Power of Regret Daniel H. Pink Pink on the regrets people carry, and how naming them early points you at what to do now.
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The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning Margareta Magnusson Magnusson on sorting what you own so no one else has to, one of the plainest kinds of legacy.
Already have HourLife?
Legacy is under Life Design in the module list, and it is part of HourLife Premium. It opens on "Altitude Map", with "Legacy" and "Letters" beside it. The "+" on the Letters tab writes a new letter, and the ⋯ menu holds "Settings".
Legacy is in the Library, under Life Design. If it isn’t there, turn it on in Settings → Look & Feel → Modules. It needs HourLife Premium.
What would you like to know?
Ask a question about this feature or tell us what’s missing.
Try Legacy in HourLife.
HourLife is free to download. Legacy comes with HourLife Premium.
