Success focuses on the three Fs: fans, fame and fortune.
But most truly successful peopl e are not fulfilled unless they are also significant. Significance focuses on three other Fs: faith, family and friends.
This formula came from the book “Attitude: The Remarkable Power of Optimism,” by Nido R. Qubein, president of High Point University in North Carolina.
You wouldn’t want to be around some successful people. They are selfish, greedy and among the first to take advantage of someone, or someone’s misfortune.
You might be drawing a paycheck from some of these folks. You see, they are not interested in your success. They are only interested in what you can do to make THEM successful. They pay you as little as they believe they can get away with. They want you DEPENDENT on them, even to the point of desperation.
In short, they are successful, but not significant – at least to you.
If they were significant to you, they would want YOU to be successful. They see your success as their success. They are grateful for what you do for them, and reward you well for it. That reward may not necessarily come in the form of money, though in the process of making you successful, money may be a part of it.
If you moved on to bigger and better things, they would feel proud. The successful, but insignificant, employer will feel you are leaving him in the dust, and want to penalize you for it.
Somehow, the successful but insignifant people sleep at night. Successful and significant people could not sleep at night if they let down one of their people.
Significant people put faith and family ahead of any personal gain. They believe if your priorities are right, everything else will fall into place.
The insignificant believe that only they are the priority.
So, one can choose to be successful at any cost. Others can choose to be significant first, then successful.
For the significant person, success may have a different definition. It may not be measured by money. Instead, it may be measured by how one earns and uses his time and treasure. It may be defined by how many people he has made successful.
In John Maxwell’s “5 Levels of Leadership,” the fifth level is helping to create other leaders. When you get to that level, you are successful and significant.
The lesson here is to have the proper priorities in life: faith, family and friends. The more people to whom you are significant, the more successful you will be. As your significance grows, your impact on the world grows.
Of course, one may need a vehicle to help more people become successful. For one of the best, visit www.bign.com/pbilodeau. You will see that the ONLY way for you to become successful is to help others become successful.
No matter who you are or how you define success, strive to become the most significant person you can be.
Peter