“I cannot believe that the purpose of life is to be happy. I think the purpose of life is to be useful, to be responsible, to be compassionate. It is, above all to matter, to count, to stand for something, to have made some difference that you lived at all.” —Leo Rosten
Financial success is a powerful motivator. And it controls the lives of many. It chooses occupations. It dictates how time, energy, and resources are spent. It influences relationships, schedules, and families. To some, it even becomes an all-consuming passion that leaves broken people and morality in its wake.
Unfortunately, it is not the greatest call we have on our lives. In fact, compared to significance, it fades quickly.
Consider the limitations of success:
- Success ebbs and flows with the economy. As recent years have proven, financial success is always at the mercy of a national economy and increasingly, a world economy. When the economy takes a downturn (as it always does), so does net worth.
- Success ends on the day you die. On the day you die, all wealth and possessions will be immediately transferred to someone else. And even if you get to pick where they go, the reality is that person is always someone other than you.
- Success is never enough. Financial success will never satisfy the inmost desires of our soul. No matter the amount of financial success earned, it always leaves us wanting more.
On the other hand, compare the advantages of significance:
- Significance always lasts. Significance will always outlast you. Even when you are no longer present, your significance will still be yours. And nothing can ever take that away from you.
- Significance carries on. Significance keeps on giving. When you positively change the life of another human being… and that person changes the life of another… who impacts the life of another… who influences another…
- Significance satisfies our soul. While the thirst for success is never quenched, significance satisfies our deepest heart and soul. It allows us to lay our head on our pillow each night confident that we lived a valuable and fulfilling day.
Unfortunately, many people spend most of their lives chasing financial success. And while some achieve it more than others, almost all find it unfulfilling in the end. When they begin to shift their life focus to significance instead of success, they wonder why they wasted most of their life chasing something different.
Don’t waste any of your life. Seek significance today.
Here are just a few practical steps to get you started:
1. Realize life won’t last forever.
Everyone knows that life will come to an end – but no one likes to think about it. That’s unfortunate. As soon as you start thinking about the end of your life, you begin to live differently in the present. You are never too young to start thinking about your legacy. How do you want people to remember you? And what do you really want to accomplish before you die? Make a list. Post it somewhere… because rarely will “drive a really nice car” ever appear.
2. Live a life worth copying.
Live with character, integrity, and morality. Your life should look the same in private as it does in public. And while no one is perfect, just begin striving for a life of integrity. It will be noticed.
3. Focus on people. Not dollars.
Begin to transfer your life’s focus from your banking account to the people around you. Rather than worrying about the next get-rich-quick scheme, spend that energy focusing on your child, your neighbor, or the disadvantaged in your community.
4. Start with one solitary person.
Find one person who needs you today. Start there. Significance may be as inexpensive as one cup of coffee or as simple as one heartfelt question. If you are unsure where to start, try this, “No, how are you really doing?”
5. Find a career outside your job.
Sometimes, our day job leads to significance. But if yours does not, find a “career of significance” outside of your job by volunteering in a local organization. Most likely, your gifts, talents, or expertise are desperately needed. Use your job to pay the bills, but use your “new career” to pay your soul.
6. Realize significance is not dependent upon success.
Too many people fall into the trap of thinking, “Once I make it rich, I’ll become significant.” This is rarely the case. Choose significance today. Begin striving for it now. If, then, financial success comes your way in the future, your mind will be in a better place to truly use your new success for broader significance.
7. Reduce your expenses.
Learn to live with less. Living with less frees up your life to invest into others. And living with reduced expenses allows you the freedom to not spend so much time at the office and more resources on others.
8. Read biographies of people who sought significance rather than success.
If you prefer recent history, read about Mother Teresa or Nelson Mandela. If you prefer older stories, give Mahatma Gandhi or Harriet Tubman a shot. Either way, their lives will inspire you to make more of yours.
Rarely do people look back on their lives and savor their professional achievements. Instead, they celebrate the impact they have had in the lives of others. Give yourself much to look back and celebrate.
Stop chasing success. Start seeking significance.
christyhlc says
What u mention in your article is True.In today worlds the meaning of life is to chase of Materialistic and 5Cs . 1)credit card 2)condo 3) car 4)children 5) card for private member ? At the end you achief all but emptiness you get and sickness you get ? If i don’t go through this phrase and see it myself ,will i know what Significance means??? Nope .. is all i went through then i understand the meaning of Life. I hope everyone up there never too late to realise what is life ,before we reach our deathbed . Enjoy life with your love ones be content .
jude says
I think my only quarrel is with the Rosten quote, which sees the goal of happiness and the goal of being useful as oppositional instead of interrelated. Sacrifice is not useful in the end- it perpetuates distance. Better to discover the joy of being useful and be only happier and happier as you give.
Isn’t Annie happy with what she has done? Happiness is not self-indulgence or selfishness: happiness is the natural state of the human heart, it is what being present is all about. I know its semantics, but I don’t believe in altruism: I think people give to others and help others because it feels really good, because it centers them & makes them happy.
Denise H. Todd says
Success to Significance. I address this very issue on my recent blog post (http://wp.me/pIKzT-n). I see so many very wealthy people, totally exhausted from life, wondering – Is this all there is? They are very “successful” but have not yet found significance. I hope articles like this find their way into the conscientiousness of more and more people. Great post — thank you.
Dee Todd
Nono Fara says
This is a very good reminder, Joshua. I like point #5. Our soul need to be feed too. Let’s celebrate life by being happy and making people around us happy. :)
Regards,
Nono Fara
Chris Stroud says
Does anyone have a good recommendation for a bibliography?
David Balkin says
Joshua’s posting reminded me of the following statement by William Barclay….”In any museum we will find quite ordinary things- clothes, a walking stick, a pen, pieces of furniture- which are only of value because they were possessed and used by some great person. It is the ownership which give them worth. It is so with the Christian. The Christian may be a very ordinary person, but he acquires a new value and dignity and greatness because he belongs to God. The greatness of the Christian lies in the fact that he is God’s.” In reviewing Joshua’s list of points above, it’s interesting to think about how the historical Jesus measured up. Clearly He led a life worth copying…
Mark Powers says
“Success ends on the day you die.” That’s huge, Joshua. Talk about minimalism, your entire post could have been nothing but those words. Thanks a ton!
marius says
success ends the day we die. (I accidentally realized this attending a funeral.) the whole this complex world has been bulled over our eyes to make us forget that fact and make us exploitable by fueling our desires to acquire assets.
Annie says
Seek significance!!! Wow, PERFEKT!!! I just finished up a week volunteering for Habitat for Humanity in an Eastern European country.
Our HFH team (all Americans living in Western Europe) got to meet several of the families for whom we were building/constructing a 12 family complex. The families have very little ‘physical’ possessions, but in their hearts, their souls, their eyes, they have the most amazing amount of love and caring and kindness to give to others. Those families are my heros. I went to their country to help build their homes. Never did I ever imagine that I would return home having been blessed that their lives touched me more than I can ever imagine mine did for them. I’m humbled and honored to have had this experience. I’ve tried seeking happiness, it doesn’t work. I’m a believer in seeking signficance in my minimalist approach to life!
BBQ says
Hi Antonio, many thanks for sharing this post. I felt that many people never knew the importance of the process towards success. In fact, at all times our focus should be on the process and not the outcome.
That’s why i felt many people couldn’t get back up again when they fail to hit their goals in life.
Great post out there, really appreciate it alot!
ART says
I work for a 100+ billion company and during this downturn on the economy they have broken record profits, but is never enough and they continue to seek and demand for more growth and profits.
While the CEO and his minions pay themselves tens of “millions” of dollars on bonuses, the rest of us have gotten salary cuts and reductions in our overall compensation and benefits.
To an extent this has been good for me, I have learned to live on less and have been able to make ends meet and put food on the table and continue to have a roof over my head. All of this has led me to believe we can live joyfully on less and leads me more interested day after day on adopting the minimalist lifestyle. I have two children and they have learned that “stuff” is not the only source of happiness.
This whole economic downturn has also given me a lot think and ponder. I think we have been living a false life and a complete false sense of wealth. I live in an affluent area of the country where I see my neighbors and friends being caught up on always getting the latest cars, boats, toys and the 4000 sq feet houses and even bigger and I wonder why and also wonder how deep they are.
I think the reason there are so many unhappy people out there is because their definition of happiness is totally distorted to think that happiness comes from the stuff the media shoves in front of their faces and the stuff their friends and neighbors have that they don’t have.
Antonio says
I had the following experience just yesterday here at work:
One of my co-workers decided to retire from the company after 18 years and while we were having a sort of going away party for him, he started talking about his life at work during the past 18 years and one of the things he mentioned was that he missed out on raising his 3 daughters because he was so busy working that he did not get himself involved with his girls and did not even know which grade or school there were going to.
One of his girls got pregnant at 15 and he ended up raising his granddaughter, she is 7 now and he wants to retire to spend time with his granddaughter and be involved with her life and make up for missing out. I think this is a noble thing and I admire him for admitting to that.
I have a sign on the door that leads from my garage to my house that reads:
“The most important job that I will do today is behind this door”
Jarkko Laine says
Hey Antonio, thanks for sharing this! I love the idea of the sign at your door. That’s a great reminder in a world filled with so many things that want to get a share of you.
TeachermomVA says
I love the door sign. Leaving my full time position to be present with my boys and husband is so significant. Everyone has different passions! And they can change year to year! Passions in your 20s may be different once you have children. Motherhood is a passion :)