Purpose, Impact, Fulfillment, and a Defining Legacy | Cody Bjugan

N/A

Episode Topics:

• Explore the concept of legacy beyond the surface with expert insights from Cody Bugan.
• Discover how everyday actions can contribute to a lasting legacy.
• Learn about the six pillars of legacy and how to apply them in your life.
• Gain inspiration to evaluate and enhance your own legacy.
• Cody Bugan breaks down complex ideas into practical, achievable steps.

 

 

Rick Jordan  

Hey, what’s shakin, hey, I’m Rick Jordan today, we’re going all in. Alright, today, there’s a friend of mine who hosted an awesome podcast and always says, I got a real treat for you. And I never use that phrase because he does. But today, I got a real treat for you. Alright, we’re gonna we’re gonna crush this today because this is gonna be awesome. Something that’s near and dear to my heart is legacy, especially building like for your family and fitting around your purpose and with other people, you know, outside of being a badass real estate dude. And everything under the sun has to do with faith in him. Today we’re going to talk about legacy and the foundations that go into that with Cody Bjugan. 

 

Cody Bjugan  

What’s shakin, you nailed it. Yeah. Thanks for having me. I’m excited to talk about legacy today Yeah, that was a topic you and I chose, and it’s been quite a journey, understanding the importance of that. So this is fun. I

 

Rick Jordan  

think so too. It’s, and you know, what, we were doing a lot of pre-pre-talk, right? I was like, Hey, we just need to press record. Because what I was about to say, is that I want to talk about applicable bull practical things, you know, that a lot of every individual can do with legacy. Because it’s, you know, you look on social media, it’s like, you know, I just, I say this with all kinds of humility. It’s like, I surpassed a million followers on Instagram, you know, and engagements, grade top 2% podcast, you’ve got a lot of accolades, yourself. And there’s a lot of being like, Well, sure, those guys can build a legacy. Look at all the resources that they have right underneath. It’s like, wait, no, you do too. Like, there’s so much around you. You know, so let’s, let’s go down that route today. 

 

Cody Bjugan  

Like, okay, you are, you’re talking my language so excited.

 

Rick Jordan  

I love it. Man. I love what you got in the back, too. I mean, most of our most of our fans or listeners, are right on audio platforms, but I see behind you, you’ve got purpose, impact, and fulfillment, and there’s so much of that that goes into a legacy to dude.

 

Cody Bjugan  

I would say a whole lot that goes into legacy. Yeah. That’s my personal slogan. PIF purpose, impact fulfillment. So, you know, I think a lot of people use the word happy. I’m not a fan of the word happy. I think the word happy is temporary. I think what we’re all searching for is fulfillment, whether we know it or not. And talk about legacy man, like, you know, you and I would go build this legacy we’re proud of. In order for you to be proud of your legacy. You’re gonna have a lot of fulfillment in your life.

 

Rick Jordan  

Yeah, for sure. So do you define the word legacy?

 

Cody Bjugan  

Well, how do I define the word legacy? I will let us tell you, man if you don’t mind, I’m literally going to read something to you. Oh, man.

 

Rick Jordan  

What do you just put on his glasses? Here we go.

 

Cody Bjugan  

I did. Five now, man. And so I need the glasses. So like on my website, it says one legacy, right you So Rick, you have one legacy, I have one legacy, we don’t have to, we don’t have three, we only have one shot at creating a legacy that we can be proud of powerful. So I went through this exact exercise, what is legacy? And what I did is I took the six letters of legacy and created a pillar for each. Okay, so let me just start off with the L. So we only have one legacy, and that is one L is lasting faith. So, man, you don’t have to believe in the Saint but you better have some type of faith because, without faith, we have control issues. Right? A big part of faith is giving up control. Right? We can’t control everything one of the slogans in my office is Believe action faith, believe in whatever it is, you want to accomplish take action but at the end of the day, you’re not in control of everything and that’s where faith comes in introducing them

 

Rick Jordan  

I know I’m because I feel like is it impossible to take action without having the faith. Isn’t that like literally like the express an expression of your faith can be taken out as

 

Cody Bjugan  

well, I think but sometimes people think their action alone Yeah, is gonna get them there. Right. And there is so much that we are just not in control. You don’t I mean, and I think a lot of religious people like by the way Yes, faith is a huge part of who I am. But that’s just a relationship I have. I’m not religious I mean, and I don’t check I started a book 10 years ago that never finished called The Checklist Christian we’re all these people that have checked these external boxes but they didn’t want to actually have a relationship that’s

 

Rick Jordan  

stupid book

 

Cody Bjugan  

exceptional relationships man like Rick, I’m sure you have exceptional relationships. You know, I’m striving to improve my relationships and take relationships more seriously. Yeah. The G genuine impact right going back to PIF purpose impact fulfillment. Next is finances I’m not saying Rick, we got to be billionaires are multimillionaires, just able to finances for whatever it is that your financial future or your financial legacy you want to live. Just make sure that that’s what can be accomplished. Yeah, right. So able finances, yeah cherished experiences, man, why live and do this life without some phenomenal experiences. And then lastly, as you write your mental health, your physical health. And so yeah, that’s that’s what legacy is to me. At the end of the day, man, what are people going to say about me? You know, as far as my eulogy, I want to be proud of what people say. Yeah, for sure. Thanks. So often, it’s hard to be so long-winded because usually, I don’t talk this many words in a row. But is I think that we so often relate success and legacy to money. For sure, can I say that money is a phenomenal tool. But money alone? Is not success, or a legacy you can be proud of. 

 

Rick Jordan  

 Yeah, it’s used a lot as a measuring stick, isn’t it? Money? Yeah. When I don’t think that that’s the case, except Except, right? When I look at it exactly how you’re saying that money is a tool. So it’s like if that tool can also be called a resource, right? And aka as a resource, so it’s like, how many resources do I need? And money could be one of those right? In order to take that action in faith to step into whatever legacy that I’m building for myself? 

 

Cody Bjugan  

Yes. So it’s like a powerful tool, a resource? Yeah, money. I’m able to amplify the legacy I want to create.

 

Rick Jordan  

All my stuff. Exactly. That’s what can

 

Cody Bjugan  

I do for other people? Right, what can be passed on from generation? And like Rick, people pride pointing at you all the time and say, Dude, he’s super successful, right? Or point me and say he’s super successful? And can I tell you that money or title alone has very little to do with success that man, I was worth a lot of money in my 20s. And I lost a lot almost all of it in the Great Recession. But everybody thought I was successful. And can I tell you, bro, I was the ultimate failure because my wife hated me? My kids didn’t know me. My health sucked. I had money, but every other pillar of my life was pitiful. And I’ll tell you what, thankfully, I figured it out. Because I wouldn’t have been proud of that legacy.

 

Rick Jordan  

Yeah, right on. Dude, I appreciate you being vulnerable that way. I don’t like to get as we’re on the topic of money. There’s a reason and I’m not getting political yet. Okay, we might go that way on the show. I don’t know. But it’s like, there’s a reason why in politics, you know when you’re looking at it’s, it’s appropriate for this year, because it’s an election year. The campaign funds, right, it’s looked at as a quote-unquote, war chest, you know, or even with acquiring companies like me, it’s like, hey, how big is your war chest? Because it’s, I think it’s actually kind of a healthy way to look at it. Because when you look at it like that, it’s a resource, using that kind of phrase, it’s a resource, like, cool, how big is our war chest, which means how fast for me in business, how fast can I execute? On my class? You know, like you said, you know, if I look at politicians, at least in the way that they’re supposed to be, you know, to where their impact impacting and influencing millions in a very positive way, again, I’m looking at them as how they should be right. I’m not saying that they actually are. It’s the bigger the war chest that they have you mentioned something that it would be the greater amount that they can amplify their message.

 

Cody Bjugan  

Yes. But okay, let’s let’s, let’s look at this going back to legacy. Money is a resource money is a tool money is a multiplier or an amplifier of whatever your message or your purpose is. But I would take it a step further and say, some people use it to amplify that if I’m to be brave in my communication right now, they use it to amplify, I think, a legacy when they’re on their deathbed, that they won’t actually be proud of actually amplifying a negative legacy, not a positive legacy. You know, so it’s an amplifier but not is always used for the good, right?

 

Rick Jordan  

Yeah,

 

Cody Bjugan  

definitely political.

 

Rick Jordan  

I like how you broke it down, right, and go into something really kind of practical with giving each letter kind of its own meaning in the word to, I’ve always looked at legacy as something that that outlives you, you know, something that’s something that is beyond who you are, but it’s tied directly to who you are. So tied directly, but yet it’s also beyond you know, though, it’s like you mentioned a eulogy and I start to think about that, and I believe that fits within how I see it something that lives beyond because the memory of you, lives beyond you. Amen. It’s also the you can look at different things, right? Some people, I had somebody, a coach of mine one time he goes, I want to know how to get a statue of myself somewhere at home like what dude? Like he’s like, that’s like the ultimate celebrity. And I’m like, alright, that’s, that’s interesting. I’m like, well, let’s explore that for a moment, shall we? What do you have to do to get a statue of you, but then, like, within the context of our conversation, Cody, it’s like, that is almost just a statue of you somewhere would almost be like a visualization of the legacy that you created while you’re alive. Because there’s a reason why that statue exists. And it has nothing to do with just how good you look. Right? Yeah. I mean, you and I look at our statues are probably look pretty good. I think. 

 

Cody Bjugan  

Yeah, yeah. Well, I’d recommend there are probably statues why No, there are statues that exist. of individuals or symbols. That you are and then and it’s definitely a legacy tied to that statue, the lives beyond them. But I’m just so focused on creating a legacy that I’m proud of. Yeah, right on. And I think a lot of those statues and what that legacy is tied to that individual is probably a legacy that you wouldn’t be proud of. Yeah. You know, so statue alone doesn’t mean I’m going to be proud of the legacy. Right. You know, so I don’t know just Just something to think about it. But it’s, you know, it’s, it’s like any go back to the eulogy per second. People lie or play in the gray with the eulogies. Eulogy? Like, let’s get no one. You know, I did this exercise years ago, and I need to do it again.

 

Rick Jordan  

We can be benign, right? I get humor involved in this too. It’s like, wow, I remembered forever in the eulogy. 

 

Cody Bjugan  

Well, no, no, my eulogy, you know, in my 20s was I mean, if I was, to be honest, it was a truthful eulogy is the dude’s a complete douchebag. Yeah, right. Like, so yeah, it’s interesting. 

 

Rick Jordan  

All right, the most benign eulogy, and I’ll sell it is like a coaching program or something like that, like, how to write a nine eulogy, when you don’t like the person I love, he will be remembered forever, you know, long will he remain in our hearts. I mean, our heads, you know, I don’t know. I could go on forever. Anyway, I’m getting back on track. But that’s what what you’re saying, though, is like even a legacy, like a legacy can actually be a negative thing. As much as it can be a positive thing, you know, that the only memory that I or the only thought I had come to my head is when I was filming a movie. A long time ago, I was in a city town, I was gonna say city town, but I don’t know which one, something like that in Virginia. And I can’t remember the name of the town in the city. But it was a lot of historical references in Virginia to the Civil War, you know, and I saw some statues of people on the horse, I can remember that guy, oh, my gosh, and that was horrible. If somebody’s really, really big during the Civil War, it wasn’t like General Lee or anything like that. But I’m looking at this. And it’s like, there’s a lot of bad crap that was tied to this dude, as I’m like, to the point to where I’ll have to look it back up to where we were making sure not to get the statue of this person in the frame of the video. As we were filming around this historical site, you know, and it was videos about the pandemic and government overreach and all that, but it was like, there was just so much so many bad things. And sure, our, our country has that part of a bloody pass from, you know, about 170 something years ago, in there, there’s still statues of those individuals that are still up in certain states that are in the southern portion of the United States. And I saw them like we can’t we can’t put that guy. We like it. We have to interview we have to turn the camera this way because of what’s tied to him. And I was just surprised. I’m gonna I’m seriously going to have to look it up now. Because I can’t remember. Why is that statute still up?

 

Cody Bjugan  

Yeah. And if it was in your video, whether you like it or not, you might be guilty by association.

 

Rick Jordan  

Yeah, that was exactly it. Right. And that was exactly the point and I could understand if it was still up for a reason of like, hey, let’s remember the bad stuff. Right? So we don’t go there again, you know, but I don’t think that was the case for this individual. But cuz it now you look at that scenario, but then it also comes to like tombstones, right and what you were saying, you know, if you see something like beloved mother, you know, well, what was she Exactly? 

 

Cody Bjugan  

Or is it just get that one-liner out of the you out of the book? Right? 

 

Rick Jordan  

Yeah, right on it’s like, what do you want? I heard the question one time and this is like, like to put the nail in the coffin. So so to speak, it’s such a funny pun from what we’re talking about right now. I make myself laugh, man. It’s like, that’s good. That’s good. And I know what you want on your tombstone. What would you want people to say about you? When they net you if it’s a funeral Celebration of Life service, whatever it is, what would you want people to be saying about you? Yeah.

 

Cody Bjugan  

So I, so you again, not to go too deep into my faith, but you know, I, I have, I have this thing seven by seven. So I get saili, seven daily habits done by 7 am. Okay. One of those is journaling and part of my journaling, as I journal my prayers, right, like what I’m praying about. And one of the things I pray about daily is, is, is being a godly man. Right? Like, I have a desire as a part of my legacy to be seen as a godly man. Right? It’s just important to me.

 

Rick Jordan  

Love that. So when people are celebrating their memories of you, that your funeral or whatever memorial service, you want them to say about you. Cody was a godly man.

 

Cody Bjugan  

Yeah, he was imperfect. And he did a lot of dumb stuff. Yep. But at the end of the day, he was a godly man.

 

Rick Jordan  

And that’s okay. Because that’s just being human. Right? Amen. That’s perfectly okay. It’s still it, it’s also interesting because it’s when you’re thinking about legacy, it’s maybe an inverse. Like, if we can flip it for people listening. If you’re at that point, think about the things that you would say about that person right now. Like this moment in life, because there’s still a lot of time between now and probably when they’re going to depart to where they can, they can grow, they can change, they can shed some bad things about them. But if you started to look at somebody right now be like, what, what is this individual done? And what is he defined? What is she defined about himself? And started down the path of creating what kind of legacy in this moment? Amen. And it’s I think, you know, there’s

 

Cody Bjugan  

two versions of the eulogy. Yeah, what it is today, versus what you want it to be.

 

Rick Jordan  

That’s incredible. Because you’re

 

Cody Bjugan  

right. Yeah.

 

Rick Jordan  

I love this conversation. This is fantastic. Because I tell you to be

 

Cody Bjugan  

vulnerable with you for a second, right? You know, a friend of mine asked me, I don’t know, several months ago, he said, Cody, who are you? And I stopped for about five seconds. And literally word for word, this is what came out of my mouth. And I’m going to read it to you. And it’s not that long. And the reason this has everything to do with my legacy. Okay, let me read this to you real quick. Who are you? I’m a broken little boy. That’s being very intentional and purposeful, about pivoting the legacy of my family actually says my last name. So if that same little boy doesn’t show up in future generations. Wow. Right. Like, I want to pivot. Yeah, the legacy of my last name.

 

Rick Jordan  

That’s so cool.

 

Cody Bjugan  

I can accomplish that man. Life Good. Well,

 

Rick Jordan  

listen, I want to hear this, you know, and I hope that we know each other 10 years from now because I want to hear that same thing and how it’s evolved over the next 10 years. Amen to that, because I know that and I’m going to challenge you on this. And that also for everybody listening, right, because I, I believe from what I see and what I hear from you, that you’ve already started down that path. And that you have probably accomplished a lot of what you just wrote down already. You know, there might still be some more things and I don’t know what those are. And I don’t want to get into a therapy session with you today. That’s, that’s a bit of a joke. But do you see it in your eyes that you’ve already made those shifts, because you started talking about yourself years ago, years ago, you know, when you were in your 20s and how you quote unquote, lost everything you know, and how you were, you were not that great of a person at that point. You had a lot of money, but you had all these other things that would have made you not remembered in the right kind of way. Write the eulogy at that time period. And I see you who you are today, it’s something that tells me you need this today. Man, you need to hear this. I don’t know what that says, Dude, for real, but this is just what I’m feeling right now. And I think you’ve already done a lot in the last, we’ll say 16 years or so to do exactly what you have already written down on paper. Mm hmm. And I’m not gonna say that, man. That’s good. I’m not gonna say that if you’ve got a bet you’ve said

 

Cody Bjugan  

to me, no one’s ever said to me before and I’m a pretty quick processor, pretty decisive. And if I was one, thank you for those words. That was inspiring and uplifting, and I don’t care who you are, it always is good. And it is always like we all need those types of words. Thank you and ensure If I was to be honest, if I got run over by a bus today I’ve already accomplished what’s written on that piece of paper. Yeah. But here’s what I know. You and I will never arrive.

 

Rick Jordan  

One right percent, you got it.

 

Cody Bjugan  

Like, I want to be sprinting till the day I die. One of my convictions is I did the whole lifestyle business thing that’s like this thing everybody desires these days.

 

Rick Jordan  

And let’s just because it looks pretty to me, but

 

Cody Bjugan  

I am convinced the last one The Lord doesn’t like lazy. Let me take a step further. The Lord gave you gifts and he gave me gifts. And were to utilize those gifts to create that legacy that we can be proud of to create the pith, the purpose impact fulfillment. And so I have this desire Tim Tebow and I’ve kind of become I guess, friends lately. And, one thing Tim Ted said to me that I absolutely loved was, Dude, I’m gonna, I’m gonna show up to heaven tired. Like I’m sprinting all the way to the end. And I just love that because I think we have the responsibility to utilize our gifts till the day we die. Right

 

Rick Jordan  

1. Right on. And that’s how it will forever be. Dude, this has been awesome. I do want to thank you for being a veteran also. I do. You’re not a veteran. You’re a veteran land developer. Did I just read that wrong?

 

Cody Bjugan  

Yeah, I’m a veteran land developer.

 

Rick Jordan  

veteran student, I’m glad it’s you. That was probably like biggest gap I’ve ever had on the show for hilarious. I just saw a 20-year veteran who got me this sheet. This has been thrown away. That’s great. I’m glad we got into Laughing Man because that’s funny. I do very much appreciate our armed forces. That’s why I bring it up. I just didn’t read the next word. Oh, man. Well, whatever. I hope somebody soundbites me on that someday because it’s funny. I want to I part of my legacy is the same thing, right? I want people to understand that I’m human. Right. And in the midst of all the success that we’re all the faults that I had to continue to overcome every single day in my life, in order to be a better human, a better man, and a better person, to everybody that I come in contact with. So I love that man. Thank you. Thank you for being great. You bet.