Some people want to leave a record of their lives. They keep photographs, save letters, write down family histories and take pleasure in knowing that the stories they carry will be passed on. They think about what will happen when they die, what they will leave behind, and how they might make things easier for the people who will eventually have to sort through it all.

Other people have little interest in any of this. They don't particularly care about preserving the past, don't see the point in recording their memories, and would rather not think about what happens to their possessions when they're gone. They might consider the whole exercise unnecessary, self-indulgent or simply a job for another day.

Most of us probably sit somewhere between these two positions, although our attitudes can change throughout our lives.

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What do you think of when you hear the word legacy?

Perhaps you think of children, a career, a house, money, something you built, a business you started, charitable work, an award on a shelf or a name that people remember. Perhaps you imagine the sort of thing that gets written into an obituary, the achievements and milestones that supposedly add up to the mark we have left on the world.

But what if we've made legacy far more complicated than it needs to be?

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