Inspiration and Life
Live a More Meaningful Life
You can have a life filled with more than simple success
What makes life meaningful to you? Is it a job you love or perhaps being successful? How about having a great marriage and children? Maybe it is to live carefree on some tropical island. Living a meaningful life means different things to different people, but could there be something else? Something more profound? Let’s explore!
What about success?
Practically everyone wants success in their lives. But what exactly does it mean to have it? The answer is as individual as you are. While many equate success to having plenty of money, others define it as having a good life. To some, being successful is doing the work they love. To others, it’s a roof over their head and a bed to sleep in at night. Each of these is an important and valid form of success, yet the way many self-development junkies see it is as making a lot of money and possessions.
What could be better than that, you ask? Well, plenty!
There is something that can bring you far more than success, especially if you wish to live a truly meaningful life.
Look at it this way, success is typically inward-focused, working IN your life. It happens right now, and perhaps later, but not after you’re gone. When you are no longer alive, personal success ends — at least, it ends on the earth.
“When you pursue significance, success can find you.” Dov Seidman (1964-present)
Significance
What could be more meaningful than success? Significance!
Significance goes far beyond success in so many ways. It is typically focused outward. It is about working ON your life and helping others.
When you are no longer alive, the result of your significance will live beyond you, continuing to make an impact. How? Through your legacy.
“What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived. It is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lead.” Nelson Mandela (1918–2013)
How can you build significance?
Purposely building a life of significance begins with the end in mind, thinking about what you will leave behind. A life of significance results from who you were and what you did. These will live on in the lives of others. A simple way to gauge the significance you will leave is to ask yourself, “Will others benefit from my life after I am gone?”
There are many ways to create a life of significance. You can write books, leaving your thoughts, life experiences, and wisdom. This may help those who follow you grow and change their lives. You can leave what’s left of your money as an inheritance to your family members, but you know they will likely spend it with little or nothing to show for it. It might be better to leave money in a private foundation or trust that pays its earnings in perpetuity to your favorite charities.
As you impact others, their memories will create your legacy. How? By the example you became. You can leave this legacy in your children, family, friends, etc. It can go from their lives into others’ lives, including their children’s children and beyond. Imagine the impact of such memories, the values, morals, character traits, and all the other effects you had on their lives passed from generation to generation.
When you recall a person whose significance continues to this day, although they may be long dead, who comes to mind? For me, it’s people in the history of our great country. A few include George Washington, Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and Abraham Lincoln. They are the reason I love biographies. Each impacted my life because of what I read and learned from them.
Many from the business world have influenced me, including Andrew Carnegie, Henry Ford, Thomas Watson Jr., and Steve Jobs, to name a few.
Then there are the people who influenced countless millions with their words, whether spoken or in books. This includes people like Paul of Tarsus, Saint Augustine, C.S. Lewis, and Ed Cole. Many others have influenced my life in a significant way, although I only met a couple of them in person. Some of these include Jim Rohn, Robert Fritz, John Maxwell, Michael Gerber, and Zig Ziglar, among others.
Last but certainly not least are those who influenced my personal life, such as two of my old bosses, Alan Durant and Bill Brown; two of my pastors, Nathan Ridgeway and Aubrey Shines; my wife who passed, Charlotte, and Jane, my current wife. And how could I ever forget my Aunt Alice and Uncle Troy? All these people have left an indelible mark on my life, significantly influencing me and the legacy I am creating.
“Life is too short to waste time on things that have no lasting significance.” T. B. Joshua (1963–2021)
Meaning and purpose
At the end of life, it’s not the success you’ve enjoyed, the fact that you saw more than others, or that you smiled more and were happy. What is far more meaningful is what resulted from what you said and did. The importance of living a life of meaning and purpose while impacting others cannot be understated.
I believe that, deep in each of our hearts, almost everyone wants the same thing — to leave their footprint on this earth. We want to affect other people’s lives in a positive way, leaving a legacy that lives on, continuing to make its mark long after we’re gone.
You may think, but I’m not Thomas Jefferson or Andrew Carnegie! How can my simple life be significant to the world? Your life has significance to someone! Surely you are impacting at least one other person in your life. Give it some thought. I bet you are impacting more people than you realize!
“The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away.” Pablo Picasso (1881–1973)
Making it personal
Let’s recognize a significant truth in life. Some time ago, I heard it said that “all change happens in relationship.” So far, I have found zero exceptions to this statement.
Much of my writing is about change. Change for good. Change for creating a new and different life. And as I always emphasize, life and relationships are synonymous.
I love to write about intentionally creating our lives to better the world around us. I enjoy helping others find ways to live a more fulfilling life, becoming more of who they are capable of becoming, and touching others in a way that lives beyond them.
Face it, you and I will no longer be here one day. What would you like people to say about you after you’re gone? “Who was s/he? Never heard of her/him.” Or would you rather they say: “Yes, s/he affected other people’s lives in a good way. Their life truly mattered. I would like to become like him/her. S/he lived a life that made a difference.”
If you take nothing else away from this article, I hope you will decide to do this: work ON you and work ON your life. Don’t just continue working in it. Your life is who you are and what comes out of your being. That’s what determines the course of your life.
“Significance is about who we are before it is about what we do.” John Ortberg (1957-present)
Final thoughts
A great way to leave a legacy is to keep working on who you are becoming. Don’t just make quick and simple choices in life. Instead, use your gifts to be more thoughtful and do something. Act on your choices and be creative. You can bet others are watching you and looking for an example to follow in their lives.
Find a way. Turn your life into one of significance. Develop a vision of your life’s outcome. You have the ability in you to create practically anything you want, so why not begin now?
As a Christian, I would be remiss if I did not include the following wisdom in this article:
“It is only in God that we discover our origin, our identity, our meaning, our purpose, our significance, and our destiny. Every other path leads to a dead end.” Rick Warren (1954-present)
I challenge you to become all you can be. Become more for your family and friends. Live a fulfilling life of significance, and leave a legacy of the exceptional human being you are and grew to become. Start now!
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Bill Abbate Leadership Writer and Editor in ILLUMINATION
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