From Success to Significance
Most people as they enter adulthood and strive to make a
livelihood are basically looking for success as they perceive
it. Now success can be defined in a number of ways. One can
define success as being able to start a family and to
emotionally and financially support it. If one doesn't
necessarily define success in this way, one can define success
as being able to make enough money to comfortably enjoy oneself
in doing whatever one wants to do. Or one could define success
as being able to climb the corporate ladder so one can gain more
responsibility or more power in the corporate scheme of things.
There are a number of definitions on success one could use. Now
even though there are many striving for this goal, there are
many who never attain it They just continue striving for it most
of their life. And those who do attain it after a number of
years oftentimes tend to feel themselves dissatisfied, or empty
inside, and ask themselves this question: "What am I doing
here?", or "What purpose do I serve in doing what I'm doing?".
In other words, they are asking: "Why was I born?", or "Why
don't I feel significant?".
This is where Halftime comes in. Now what is Halftime? Halftime
is that period in your life, and it can come at any age, where
you have to sit down and meditate and reflect upon what you
really want to do in this life, so that you might feel more
important in what you're doing. And this is where Significance
comes in. Basically you can find significance only if you feel
that you're contributing in some way to society's betterment and
needs. And once this happens, you'd begin to feel much more
satisfied in your economic endeavors. This could be done within
your economic activities or without. This could also be applied
to those who do not feel they've been successful thus far as
well.
Now once you've decided upon your goal, you've got to plan on
what you have to do in order to accomplish it. To do this, you
have to lean upon your past experience and the talent that you
perceive that you have. Sometimes this might entail just a
slight change in your economic behavior, or it might suggest a
drastic change. Whatever it takes, a feeling of significance to
better society should be a major ingredient in determining how
we use our economic behavior. And the most important question
could be answered: "WHAT DIFFERENCE WOULD IT MAKE TO OTHERS, IF
I WERE NEVER BORN?".