From success to significance:

When the pursuit of success isn’t enough

By Lionel Wijesiri

“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 (Russian journalist)

We’ve heard it said that everyone wants to make the same three things - money, a name, and a difference. However, our actions are dictated by the one thing we want most. For some, the almighty rupee is most important. Others would rather be well-known and respected among their peers. And then there are people and organisations that are motivated by the chance to make a positive effect on the world around them

You can make a name for yourself - become famous - or you can make a lot of money in complete obscurity. Either way, people will consider you a success. However, famous people with piles of money seem always to be haunted by the need to make a difference. As Bill Gates says, “The first half of life is a quest for success; the second is a quest for significance.”

Success is measured by the money and the name you’ve made. Significance is measured by the difference you’ve made. That is the long and short of it!

The good news is that achieving significance doesn’t always require money and it certainly doesn’t require a name. Significance is achieved by caring and doing. Caring without doing is the mark of frightened, tentative whiners. That’s right; small people complain, but big people don’t whine. They swing the hammer, bang the problem, sing a song and alter the world.

I know a lot of people who believe they are successful because they have everything they want. They have added value to themselves. I believe significance comes when you add value to others - and you can’t have true success without significance.

I came to this conclusion while working on my story When the Pursuit of Success Isn’t Enough, in which I wanted to define success. I habitually file good quotes and stories I come across, and then reference them when writing a feature story. In preparation for the story, I researched over a hundred quotes on the topic of success. Then, I came to understand that success is:

* Knowing your purpose in life,
* Growing to your maximum potential,
* Sowing seeds that benefit others.

The big question is: Once you’ve learned something, do you have a heart to share it with others, or do you hold it for yourself? Success is indeed a journey, but if you stop at adding value to yourself, you miss the reward of significance.

Journey

Let me give you a few of my observations about the journey to significance.

* This journey takes time.
* It is a process that requires patience and commitment.
* Success is usually the stepping-stone to significance.

* There has to be a certain amount of success in people’s lives before they are willing to take the step to significance, where they ask themselves, “What else is there in life beyond professional and monetary success?”

* Pursuing significance takes us out of our comfort zone.
* Significance is not attainable in a natural way.

Let me describe to you the difference of what I think natural and unnatural is. I don’t think you glide or pale into significance. You don’t wake up one day and say to yourself, “I’m significant.” Significance takes us out of comfortable territory into uncomfortable territory.

I recently read an article written by Rusty Rustenbach, an American journalist, titled Giving Yourself Away. He writes, “You and I live in an age when only a rare minority of individuals desire to spend their lives in pursuit of objectives which are bigger than they are. In our age, for most people, when they die it will be as though they never lived.”

Once significance is sensed, nothing else will satisfy. I know a lot of people who love what they do, but don’t feel it matters much. And I know some people who don’t love what they do, but do feel it matters. However, when you can love what you do and feel that it is making a difference in the lives of others, you have the right combination.

Differences

I also have identified five differences between Success and Significance.

* Motives: With success, your motives may be selfish; with significance, your motives cannot be selfish. Significance and selfishness are incompatible. When I was a young business executive, I would go to a workplace and look at my colleagues, and my first thought - as wrong as it was - was, What can they do to help me? As I matured, it turned around where I would think, What can I do to help them? In my experience, motives matter because selfish people seldom find significance and when you help others, you help yourself.

* Influence: With success, your influence is limited; with significance, your influence is unlimited. Here’s an anonymous quote I found that will help illustrate this fact: “When you influence a child, you influence a life. When you influence a father, you influence a family. When you influence a leader, you influence all who look to him or her for leadership.”

* Time: Success can last years or decades; significance can last a lifetime. People who desire significance value time. They evaluate what they do with their time, and they invest their time wisely.

* Focus: Success asks, “How can I add value to myself?” Significance asks, “How can I add value to others?” My evolution from selfishness to significance went something like this: What can others do for me? What can I do for myself? What can I do for others? What can I do with others, for others?

*Reward: If you pursue success, your joy is the result of your success; if you pursue significance, your joy is the result of others’ success. Why is it so rewarding for you to add value to others? First, it’s your calling. Second, it’s so productive to get beyond yourself and help people grow and develop.

Questions

I believe “success” can be a very dangerous thing in a vacuum… Success is in the eye of the beholder, whereas significance is a view of you that is held by others. Complicating matters further, I believe a few successful people actually make the transition to significance, but every person of significance is successful.

Spend a few minutes and mull over the following questions:

* Do you understand the difference between success and significance?
* Did the attainment of your 2012 goals lead you closer to success or significance?
* Is the pursuit of success or significance driving your quest in 2013?
* When people describe you, do they talk about what you have achieved for yourself or what you’ve accomplished for the benefit of others?

My hope in writing this story is to have you adapt your thinking when it comes to the definition of success. My goal is to simply help you leverage your success into becoming significant individuals over the course of your dealings in life. The sad reality is that far too many people are so focused on success that they are actually blind to the meaning of significance. The simple truth of the matter is that with the proper focus you can have your cake and eat it too.