SUCCESS AND THE HEART OF THE MATTER

Whilst reading the book “How to have a good year every year” by Dave Yoho and Jeffrey P. Davidson, I came across this statement, “Success is an illusive concept. For a business, success means profit. For an individual, success means career development”.  I also would love to add that to parents, success could be raising well behaved children, for a married couple, it could be having a drama-free home and for others it could be driving a fancy car and living in a big and luxurious house. 

 

 

So what does ‘Success’ mean to you?

 

You see, the definition of success is one that I believe many would struggle to reach a general consensus on.  The reason is simple, people are different based on life experiences, culture, gender, ideologies etc. and these factors play a key role in one establishing a suitable definition that resonates with the person.

 

It was John C Maxwell who coined the definition of success as “knowing your purpose in life, growing to your maximum potential and sowing seeds that would benefit others”. I truly believe that this in many respects is the most suitable definition of success as it captures the 3 key bedrocks that would cause a person to be regarded as successful.

 

1. Knowing your purpose in life

 

2. Growing to your maximum potential, in other words harnessing your gifts in line with your purpose.

 

3. Sowing seeds that would benefit others.

 

For the purpose of this article, I wish to focus on the 3rd point- “Sowing seeds that benefit others. I make bold to say that one is not considered successful until they have used their influence to better the lives of others. The History books are littered with a plethora of individuals who used their influence to advance the lives of others. Jesus died that that the world may be saved, Martin Luther King Jr used his influence on the African American community to lead a peaceful protest that brought about the minimization of the racial prejudice on the black community.  Likewise, Nelson Mandela used his thriving career as a lawyer to carve his name on the stones of history for bringing to an end to the marginalization of the South African citizenry by the Colonial Masters; the list goes on and on.

 

It was by reason of the phenomenal achievements of these personalities that people and even Nations were been able to build upon and attain tremendous landmarks. Issac Newton said “If I have seen further, it is because I have stood on the shoulders of giants who have gone ahead of me”. 

 

Based on the foregoing, it would suffice to suggest that no successful person ever attained that status of being ‘successful’ without having put consideration of the welfare of people at the heart of what they do. Even Jesus whilst organizing what I can rightly term as a ‘Success Seminar’, admonished His disciples by saying….

 

“Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. 27 And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave— 28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many”- (Matthew 20:26-27).

 

So, my counsel to you who desires to leave a legacy on earth, you whose intention is to make an impact or be successful, always bear it in mind that at the base of the monuments of success are the sands and stones collated from the intentions of bettering the lives of others.