Back in 1988 I declared that my life was going to be NOT about my life but about others… And that was the beginning of my REAL life…
This article is bulls eye, both in what it says and when it hit. September is a great month to call the beginning of the rest of your life… In certain cultures it is truly the time of the New Year…
And if this article is any good… and I think it’s fabulous, borrowed with just cosmetic changes from the MondayMorningMemo.com it is the perfect guidance for this month.
A person can do well without doing good.
“Doing well” is financial. It’s about you.
“Doing good” is not personal. It’s about others. And the difference you’ve made in their lives.
Mia Erichson says success and significance are like that, too.
Success is about you. It’s about the things you’ve achieved, the honors you’ve won and the money you’ve made.
Significance is about others. And the difference you’ve made in their lives.
Everyone wants to make money, a name, and a difference, But what separates us is the one we want a little more than the other two.
- When you make money, you achieve wealth.
- When you make a name, you achieve fame.
- When you make a difference, you achieve change.
Someone asked me the other day what I thought of a certain rich man who decided he ought to be President of the United States. I said, “He’s done well for himself and is successful. But he seems to be living an unexamined life.”
I’m not really talking about rich men and politics.
I’m talking about you.
I’m talking about me.Are we living unexamined lives?
Yes, it’s possible to be both successful and significant.
But if I could choose to be only one of these, which would it be?Would I bring wealth to myself? Would I choose to make a life of ease and pleasure?
Or would I bring change to the world? Would I choose to make a difference?No, I’m hiding from the real question. The question isn’t, “What would I choose?”
The question is, “What have I chosen?”
You can choose a dragon or you can wait until a dragon chooses you, but every happy person fights one.
Our dragons give us purpose.
Our dragons give us adventure.
The problem with adventure is that we seldom realize how much fun we’re having until it’s over.
When you’re having an adventure, you wish you were safe at home. But when you’re safe at home you wish you were having an adventure.Challenge and reward and danger – the possibility of a negative outcome – these are the essential elements of adventure.
The idle (rich) are bored because pleasure is no substitute for adventure.
St. George must forever kill the dragon and the dragon must forever be killed, because if the dragon were ever finally killed, there would be nothing left but a lonely man looking for something to do.”
– John Steinbeck (1961)
Can you name your dragon, the one you are trying to slay? If you can’t, let me tell you how to find him. Look in the darkness toward your personal north star – your impossible dream – and take a series of steps in that direction. Straight into the dark…
Keep walking. Keep your eye on that star. Your dragon will soon appear. It will look like an obstacle… It will either tell you to give up, or it will tell you that slaying it, even though its head will grow back, is the most fund worth your life.
Fairy tales are more than true; not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.”
– G.K. Chesterton (1909)
- Video games and movies and fiction books are surrogate adventures.
- Television shows – including the news – are surrogate adventures.
- Extramarital affairs are surrogate adventures.
- Gambling – including the stock market – is a surrogate adventure.
Living for real is an actual adventure.
Living for real means choosing to make a difference.
Run unafraid
toward the dragon
that can never be slain.Carpe diem.
Roy H. Williams
