In my previous article about How to Find Your Life’s Purpose & Position Yourself for Success, I mentioned that successful people are purpose driven; they know what they are here for. The logical deduction from this fact is that finding your life’s purpose is the starting point of the success journey.
Today I would like to differentiate successful people from the really successful ones by first of all making a strong statement that may shock you: successful people are purpose driven, but really successful people are God-given purpose driven.
To help you grasp the essence of this statement, I would like to begin with a discussion about the definition of success so as to evidence to you the need to redefine it when applied to life, and touch on the measure of success. We’ll then see the difference between successful people and really successful people before pointing at the reason why all successful people are not really successful.
What is Success and What is Its True Measure
The English word success comes from the Latin word “successus” which literally means happy outcome. It is therefore etymologically defined as “accomplishment of desired end”. So from an etymological stand point, success starts with a desired end.
The Oxford dictionary defines it as the accomplishment of an aim or purpose. Since our society, with the influence of capitalism, industrialism, secularism and rationalism, has become essentially material, fame, wealth, and social status have become the things that most of us are after in life. Success is generally understood in our modern age as the attainment of these things.
The problem with this view of success, especially when applied to life – life as a period of time given to an individual for a specific purpose, is that it eludes the spiritual and certain psychological aspects of human beings. Though material things are undoubtedly indispensable to guarantee an acceptable life standing, life is not all about material things. Life, beyond its biological and material dimensions, is about becoming who and doing what we potentially are and are called to do.
Real success in life is the fulfillment of one’s life’s purpose, and its true measure is the percentage of your potential that you have successfully released toward becoming who you are meant to be. In other words, it is the ratio between whom you have become and who you potentially are, as would say John Maxwell.
Successful People vs. Really Successful People
The bold statement I’ve started this article with suggests that there are two ways to finding your purpose for living. The first one leads to the choice and the decision of works that best suit you, and the second one guides to the discovery of who you are meant to be.
On one hand, there are people who have chosen the field in which they are working based on their desires and/or their passions and strengths, who have resolutely committed themselves to serve in the field of their choice; they are all, without any doubt, guaranteed to eventually succeed. They are achievers, and their success is measurable in terms wealth, high life standing, fame, and high societal position. For them, life’s purpose is an answer to the ‘what for aspect’ of the life’s purpose question. The motivation behind their choice is, for most of them, self-centered and generally related to material things. You’ll find among them unsatisfied and unfulfilled influential wealthy business men, politicians, artists like musicians, etc…They are can be found in all walks of life, ready to pay for what they want.
You’ll also find among them those who have all their lives long struggled to achieve the level of success that they have attained only to realize that what they’ve been aiming at is not as satisfying as they thought it would be. Some of them suffer from depression and middle life crisis. A stressful change in their lives, like the loss of a loved one, a loss in capital, a business deal that turned sour, or simply the loss of their position, generally reveals a shaky foundation upon which they built their “successes”.
On the other hand, we find people whose purpose in life is the answer to both the ‘why’ and ‘what for’ aspects of the ageless life’s purpose questions. These are real successful people, people who have come to understand that the choice of works that they have to make is the medium for expressing the ‘why aspect’ of their respective purpose. They know that life is not about doing, it’s rather about being; they know who they are and strive to become and remain who they are by valuing and integrating the divine principles that rule the universe and life.
The Only Reason Why All Successful People Are Not Really Successful
To simply answer to this question, I would say that the reason why all successful people are not really successful is that some of them have not yet realized that we are human beings and not “human doings”, or “human havings”.
Life’s purpose is about being first, doing and having come afterward. It answers two questions, why are you here? And what are you here for? The “what for aspect” of the life’s purpose question determines the medium for expressing its “why aspect”.
As I’m concluding this article, I would like you to ponder upon these two definitions and ask you to share your thoughts using one of the below comment boxes:
- “Success is the effective and efficient completion of an assigned task to the level of expectation of the one who gave the assignment. In other words, true success is the fulfillment of original purpose.” – Myles Munroe
- “Life’s purpose is the recognition of the presence of the sacred within us and the choices of work that is consistent with that presence” – Richard J Leider
About Olivier BETU K.