“The key to realising a dream is to focus not on success but on significance.” Oprah Winfrey What if true fulfilment could be found not in what we achieve but in the significance of what we do? Often, when we think about setting goals for ourselves, we think about what we could have or do that would bring us great success. We dream of a promotion, being on TV, winning the lottery, going on exotic trips, and of the proverbial, shiny red corvette. All these things represent a form of success that we imagine being available for ourselves.
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It seems reasonable that winning the lottery or getting a new car would increase our standard of living. After all, who couldn’t use more money or a better car? However, once we’ve made it to one level of success, we rarely take a moment to appreciate it before moving on to the next. The material object we desire has been captured, and the chase is over. In instances like this, we have failed to make a true difference in our own lives. By focusing on objects of success rather than objects of significance, we have created a continuous cycle of disappointment. How is focusing on success different from focusing on significance? We all have a slightly different idea of what success is, based on our own opinions of what it takes to have, be, and do ‘more’ or ‘better.’ In this sense, the things we feel successful about are measurable things in our lives.
Getting the promotion means we have succeeded in acquiring a measurable result. Winning the lottery is a measurable result, as is making it onto JeopardyTM, visiting Nepal, or owning a corvette. We also have our own opinions of what is significant in our lives. Our families, friends, spiritual commitments, and health are just a few examples. Sometimes we forgo experiences and actions that would profoundly affect what we would consider significant in our lives because we are oblivious to the more alluring, “successful” solution that will make us look really good. If your dream is for your children to grow up to be healthy, have solid values, and be productive citizens, which would make a more significant impact in their lives? Are you getting a high-paying job where you travel a lot and aren’t home often but have plenty of money to pay the bills, treat them to movies, and pay for their college tuition?
Or would taking on a lower-paying job that would allow you to spend more time at home with them, make memories with them, and let them take on the responsibility of paying for their own education more significantly fulfill your dream? Neither of these options is “right” or “wrong,” but they will each have very different results. Each year, millions of parents make decisions just like this, and many opt to be financially successful because they equate having money with being a good parent. They were brought up, perhaps not having a lot of money, and recognise opportunities that they can make available to their kids using money as a tool. How you look at the problem makes a difference.
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There are both good and bad strategies you can use. It’s easy for a lot of people to just sit back and say, “Whoa, as myself?” Yes, these people are always failing more because they are very pessimistic. Something positive will happen, and the person will deal with it directly. The person who is complaining is too busy venting to work out a solution. Of course, they’ll blame everyone else for their problems. In every success story, there were problems that had to be solved. People who are successful just deal with the problem and move on to the next one. The whiner fails because he doesn’t think he can do well or find a way to do things. They just give up. That is where the big sin is! You stop, think, and look at your life as a whole. There have probably been times when you said “no problem” and then dealt with or solved the problem. “Awe, what do I do?” you would have said other times. As soon as you got back on the horse, you quickly fixed the problem.
It seems to be a rule for everyone. Doubt and inaction lead to failure, while belief and action lead to success. Nothing will get done if you don’t do anything. Here’s where we need to start teaching or ingraining in our young people the idea that if they think positively and act on it, anything is possible. You can move a mountain of dirt one shovel at a time. Some of us sometimes make up reasons for our teens and kids to give up. We didn’t tell them to figure out many things they could have learned on their own. You didn’t pressure them to follow through or even say, “Okay, let’s do it together then.” You just didn’t care. For another example, let’s say that since you started your marketing firm, your dream has been to help home-based businesses reach their market expansion dreams. Like all marketing and media firms, you are bombarded with opportunities to win awards and prestigious recognition for the work you do. The issue is that in order to win the awards and gain the desired exposure, you must alter the way you do business.
