Success to Significance

Success is earning your stripes; significance is helping others earn their stripes!

The road from success to significance is full of traps, ditches, and distractions. 

Why settling for good if great is available? 

The right thinking is required to go from success to significance. 

Here are 7 pitfalls to be watchful as you move from success to significance.

1) Ego. Upon starting the path to significance leave your ego at the gate of success. Keep at check on your attitude at all times. Success is never achieved alone. There is no self-made man. Drop the ego and seek a cause to enlist others.

2) Poor handling of finances. Poor handling of personal finance will quickly get you into a mess. Money reveals who we are, our character. Think of money as a blessing and do great things with money. Value money and be a saver. Invest in yourself and others around you.

3) Camping instead of climbing. Many successful people settle for the good instead of pursuing the great. Distractions get us out of focus. Seek mastery in what you have been called to do instead of jumping into other endeavors.

4) Lack of clear vision and big dreams. Live every day chasing a big dream. Big dreams create the hunger and the vision required to get where you are going.

5) Lack of gratitude. Count your blessings and know where they come from. Show your gratitude for what you have been given and you will be blessed with great resources to accomplish more.

6) Seeking pleasures instead of fun. It is easy to fall in the trap of worldly pleasures and entertainment. Seek fun activities with people that are helping you to get better in life. Learning is fun and a stress buster. Weekends of pleasure only increase the threshold for the following week’s high.

7) Lack of investment in others. Significance comes from pumping value into other people’s lives. Invest in others by giving them the best gift possible; the gift of you, the gift of your most treasure resource, your time.

Ask yourself 

“What my great grandchildren will know about me?” 

“What would l like to have said on my eulogy?”

Be blessed and be a blessing to others!

Carlos Fontana, President of Phalanx

Co-author of the book Follow to Lead (The 7 Principles to Being a Great Follower)

Author of the book PRICELESS (Sixty-Six Simple Stories of Reflection, Love, and Legacy)