I have certainly had my share of successes and failures in my life. In fact, in my experience failure seems to be a rite of passage to success. I wouldn't want to give the young people the wrong idea - if you can go straight to success and skip the failures by all means .. do that. The point is - don't fear the failures, embrace them, because they make the successes all that much sweeter.
I took a management seminar early in my career where the speaker referred to a progression we move through in our professional lives as shown below.
The idea of a progressive movement through these stages of existence identifies, not only the growth we experience as Humans, but also that success is not an end in itself but a step towards Significance. We all move though this process in our lives with varying speed and efficiency. Significance is where we use lessons learned in Survival and Stability and the resources we acquired through our Successes to give back and help others.
I took a management seminar early in my career where the speaker referred to a progression we move through in our professional lives as shown below.
Survival ----; Stability ----; Success ----; Significance
The idea of a progressive movement through these stages of existence identifies, not only the growth we experience as Humans, but also that success is not an end in itself but a step towards Significance. We all move though this process in our lives with varying speed and efficiency. Significance is where we use lessons learned in Survival and Stability and the resources we acquired through our Successes to give back and help others.
Significance will mean something different to each of us. The metric by which we will gage our Significance will be based on our internal compass. The critical point here is that we ought to always move through our lives with the understanding that we are capable of Significance. By acknowledging this we save ourselves from falling into the mediocracy of Stability or the indulgence of Success - both comfortable states in their own right.
Even though we know that we are headed towards Significance, most of us have little or no idea of how this will manifest itself in our lives. An orientation toward goals or a vision based on our internal compass is important. If we narrow it down much more than that we run the risk of selling ourselves short or missing it altogether. It has been my experience that I really don't know what's good for me. My successes have mostly involved me getting out of the way and working hard.
I believe that if we are true to our beliefs and put 100% of our attention into doing "the next right thing" in our day to day lives we will move through this process in the most effortless and efficient manner. Conversely the harder we try to project and force this to happen the harder we will work and the end result will be watered down.
As I move though the rest of the day, week, month, year and so on I will remember to focus my attention on the next right thing. As I look back and take inventory I will see that the Significance I have achieved in building families and communities is far better than if I had fixed myself on a goal and worked towards it with singleness of purpose.
Respectfully, from the Edge
