The Price of Significance

Success and significance have prices attached to them. Are you willing to pay those prices? The sooner you pay those prices the better you are. It is ok to get there early!!! Some people bargain with those prices and others refuse to pay. Success comes to those that work hard, work smart, and take the time required to succeed.

1) Pay the price. Find out what the cost is, pay it, it is worth it. In the microwave society we live in, this is a sacrifice, it sure is, but well worth the cost and the wait. Everyone seems to want it and want it now. Learn the difference between a want and a need. Stretch your dollar. Invest instead of spending. Invest in assets instead of spending in liabilities. Five or ten years goes fast. Keep that long term perspective. Most of us overestimate what we can achieve in one year and completely underestimate what we can achieve in 10 or 20 years. Read more on nugget 6.

2) Have a long term vision. Many skip this important step. Start with the end in mind. Do you have a clear picture of where you are going? How do you know when you get there? Are you anxious to get to your destination, the one always asking, are we there yet? In life we only get what we picture. People get derailed from living a great life due to lack of vision. Watch out for ditches and distractions. Do you know clearly where you are going? If you don’t know where you are going you are already there. Imagine going to a place you never been before, you would get directions to go. “I am here and I want to go there”. We first must know where we are and where we are going, then get directions from here to there. Significance is no different.

3) Have the humility and hunger to learn. Lack of vision is simply lack of hunger. Hunger is the gap between where you are and where you are going. Hunger is the difference between status quo and greatness. Hunger is the difference between mediocrity and excellence. We must choose one or the other. If we are not learning and growing we are dying. We don’t know what we don’t know and most of what we know is not so.

4) Learn to build relationships. Any degree of success involves others, and significance involves multitudes. Hang around people that excel in building long term relationships. Be a friend first if you wish to have friends. If you hang around winners you become one, as long as you are willing to go through the process they did and do the work. If you have not read “How to Win Friends and Influence People” by Dale Carnegie in the last 12 months it is time to read the 75-year old bible on friendship again.

5) Understand the dream, struggle, and victory process. Many quit when they face a few struggles. Know upfront that life will bring you those struggles. Struggles make us grow because they bring with them the critical life lesson we need to be able to relate and help others. We all need to change and grow if we want to leave a life of significance. We cannot take our old self into a bright new future. Fall in love with learning. Don’t forget to savor the small victories that together make up for the big victories. Celebrate winning many games if you want to win the championship.

6) Leverage the power of compounding. Learn how to compound knowledge and money. Knowledge compounds faster than money. Invest in yourself, at least 5% of your revenue or at least invest as much to feed your brain as you spend to feed your body. You are worth it. Put your hard earned money to work for you. Develop multiple skills and abilities and leverage them. Investment in people brings you significance.

7) Be a go-getter then a go-giver. Start being a go-getter then turn into a go-giver.  Help others along the way. Refrain from judging. Only God can judge the heart of man. Be a planter of hope in the lives of others. Leaders are dealers of hope.  Step out of your familiar zone for getting and giving. We are all here to be good Samaritans and lessen the suffering of others. There will be a judgment day so prepare for it. Start putting together a powerful portfolio for His kingdom (thy kingdom come thy will be done). When it is all said and done, at the end of our journey, imagine hearing the words “well done my faithful son”

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)