Where Success Meets Significance

By Mark Brown

We all know the saying “Money can’t buy happiness.” But if this is true, what are we all working for every day?

If I had enough money to buy a Rolex, or a Louis Vuitton handbag, or a Ferrari, wouldn’t I be happy? Maybe for a while, but in the end it’s just short-term gratification.

When the initial excitement wears off it’s just a watch, a purse, a car. They are all very nice things, but they can’t create long-term happiness.

So if we can’t buy happiness, how do we get it? Happiness comes as we shift from short-term gratification to long-term fulfillment and contribution.

You have to ask yourself what you’re trying to accomplish and achieve and why. What are the most important things in your life? Your possessions? Your relationships with friends and family members? Your career?

What legacy do you want to leave behind? How will your grandchildren view you? Have you made some sort of impression in the world?

So does focusing on these deeper issues mean we stop buying material things? It doesn’t have to. We can still enjoy the comforts and pleasures in life—we just have to make sure they don’t overshadow more important things.

We narrow the gap between how we are living and how we would like to live through passion. Passion comes in the sweet spot where success meets significance.

Success can obviously have many definitions. We can be successful in our careers, our families, in our communities and many other areas.

Doing something significant is where that connection is made. When our actions are based on truth and correct principles, we reach a layer deeper than success.

We start to subscribe to the idea of “generational thinking” where we no longer do things for the sake of simply doing them—we do things to leave a legacy.

Life will still have its mundane activities and things that we would rather not do. But being able to tap back into that passion, which gives these things some significance in our lives, is where we start to create long-term happiness and fulfillment.