Whew… another week has begun and I feel like I didn’t quite finish up the tasks from last week to warrant starting a new one. Let’s face it, who ever completes their daunting daily tasks deserves an award, because my list is ever growing and it seems like there is less and less time in a day to accomplish it all. Nonetheless, I digress and try to move forward to the best of my ability.
“Significance is very different from success. Significance means that you are adding value to others lives. Once you taste significance, you won’t care about success anymore.” – John Maxwell
As I sit here at my desk working endlessly to get all of my ducks in a row for the next few days, I find myself wondering… “Am I adding value to the lives of those that read this blog?” Hmmm… don’t answer that… haha! No, but kidding aside, I really wanted to take this site back to its roots and I find myself consistently asking the same question of myself each day. Do I bring value to the table? The quick answer would be, yes… right? The long answer would be… I may not bring value to all but I certainly offer some form of value to a few, which in all honesty – is better than none at all. Right?
So, what is it that you bring to the table that adds value to those around you? Do you look at your worth by the amount of success you accomplish or do you look at your worth by how you help those around you? In this day and age, let’s face it – not many people make the time to help others anymore. When they do, it’s half assed and rushed causing you to really question their motivations as to why they lent that hand in the first place. But should it really matter how much or how little someone has helped versus the fact that they have helped at all? Let’s think about this for a second shall we? If someone lends a helping hand for you (say, you have fallen and need some assistance standing up), do you feel grateful when they lean over and help you up and then ask you if you need anymore assistance or if you’re okay. How about if they simply just helped you stand without a word and went on their merry way? Which would you prefer? Or are you like me and think that either way – the person took the time out of their day to help you regardless of small talk and that meant a lot to begin with? I find that sometimes no words is not necessarily a bad thing. In this time when so many are at fault with one another and there is so much bigotry and ignorance in the World, if a person took 30 seconds out of their day to help you in silence versus 5 minutes and took the time to have a conversation, we should be thankful that either person took the time regardless. Those few seconds mean a lot to anyone who barely has enough time in the day to accomplish their own tasks at hand – don’t you think?
Lately I think my goal in life is to be significant. It’s not about being successful (yes, we all strive for that in some way or another), but being significant means that I’m adding much more than just success to the table. When you take the time to offer value and add value to those around you – you truly are significant. Like John Maxwell said “Once you taste significance, you won’t care about success anymore.” Well John, I agree – but I think that to be significant in the world, adding value to others’ lives around you is a success too.
Wishing you all a wonderful Monday. May today and this week be filled with a plethora of inspiration to fill your bucket full.
