Luckily, I managed to prove that was possible in the first month. I never looked back after I found a way to extract from this world enough money to live on.
I managed to extract a bit more, and a bit more. It became my baby and I devoted every spare moment to making sure my new pet monster was healthy, fed and growing! Like any entrepreneur I became enamoured with my business and who wouldn’t. It was working, I was earning, hiring people and closing new clients. It was a success and I was able to feel the return. I ended up being able to afford the nice things in life.
Around this time I learnt that there are always nicer things, better things, safer things and more comfortable things. I started to realise that the more I earned the less I had. I mean I had more stuff, but that stuff came with responsibility, maintainance and more money being spent. I realised that no matter how much you earn you will most likely live the lifestyle that you can afford to (or maybe that your debt can afford). It felt pointless and empty, I began to hate the idea of waking up every morning to ‘feed the monster’ my business had become. A hungry monster, hungry for time, hungry for money, hungry for sales and just so very hungry. It never ended and I felt like it never would. Would my new found successful life be governed by my pet monster? This monster who helps me extract from the world enough money and resource to live a good, successful life.
Then a friend added a new word to my equation. He helped me see that the monster had its place but that it’s never really going to fulfill a person. That new word changed the course of every conversation I had going forward. Significance. Significance, he said.
That day I realised that I wanted to move from a success driven life to a significance orientated life. Let me explain:
Success is defined by what we can extract from the world. What we take out, what we live on, what we save, what we drive, live in and type on.
Significance is about what we input into the world. What we believe, what we change, who we believe in, who we influence and why we influence.
Significance is a game changer. Its a bigger dream and its driven by purpose and narrative. A person’s significance it not linked to the car they drive or the clothes they wear. A person of significance leverages relationship to make the world better in one way or another. Where success driven people leverage relationships for the sale or income.
You can live a significant life as an entrepreneur, an employee, unemployed. You can be significant with or without money or disposable income. Significance is not for the select few, it’s for everyone. Everyone who is brave enough to dream of a better future and who has the grit to make it happen.
The idea of shifting my focus to living a significant life changed almost everything for me. I hope this will encourage the same for you.
