“Success is all about what we do for ourselves, significance is all about what we do for others.” ~ Cole A. Randall
There is a story about a man who spent his life chasing success. He ran as hard and as fast as he could and surpassed every milestone that he had set for himself. And although each goal required more effort, more energy, and more time, he was making more money and was able to acquire more homes, more cars, & more toys. On the surface he felt successful. However, the more ‘things’ he acquired, the fewer meaningful relationships he had in his life.
His wife now spent most of her time in one of their 3 homes, funny how it always seemed to be the one he wasn’t in.
His adult children never returned his calls or came to visit. For some reason, there was always some reason they couldn’t make it home for the holidays so he could see his grand kids. He knew their names but wasn’t always able to attach a face to the name. But on the surface…he felt successful!
Substituting Success for Significance
Sometimes people confuse success with significance. They might focus solely on the acquisition of the things that in the scope of a lifetime don’t really matter and then lose sight of the few things in life that really do matter.
For example, what would you do if your doctor called you today and told you that you had 30 days to live? What would you do differently? How would you spend your time?
Would you want to spend the few remaining days with your stuff? Would you spend your time taking inventory of all of the things you’ve acquired? Or would you choose differently?
Most Folks on Their Deathbed
There is a lot written about what folks wish on their deathbeds.
Most of the time it is about doing things differently than the way they lived their lives. Work less, spend more time with friends, been truer to themselves and not others, made better choices, let go of bad relationships sooner, valued the good relationships more, spent more time with loved ones, etc..
I have yet to hear or read about anyone stating “I would work more, make more money, or acquire more stuff (although there may be folks who may feel that way).
Again, what would you do if you had just 30 days to live?
Choose To Do Something Significance
There is no doubt that we are being immersed in so much negativity and artificial-ness in our lives. That said, why does it take a real-life tragedy, a death, or a real, significant, life altering event to remind us that both success and life are fleeting.
Two hundred and thirty-seven years ago, Benjamin Franklin said, “nothing is certain but death and taxes,” either one you cannot avoid. You pay taxes all the time, you will only experience death once.
When our time comes, we won’t be remembered by the titles we acquired, after all who was the 13th president of the United States or the 22nd governor of Georgia? I don’t remember either!
We won’t be remembered for how much money we made or the number of cars we collected.
We will be remembered in the lives of the people we loved, those who loved us, and the lives of those we made a difference in.
You have a choice today, you can choose success or you can choose to do something of significance…my hope is that you choose to do something that feels significant!
Need to get refocused in the New Year? (Click here)
Want to hear more about finding significance from one of my mentors, Dr. Nido Qubein? (Watch This)
