“Must be nice … lucky you”
Have you ever heard that when you show someone your new car? To be open here, this makes my skin crawl a bit. Deep down you want to respond “No, not lucky, you have no idea what I have had to do until now to have this.” - Instead, you smile and say thank you.
We are talking about the 5-stages of life in this article. Those being Survival, Security, Stability, Success, and Significance. Let’s quickly define success for the sake of argument, and use $1 Million in Net Worth.
Before we say ‘must be nice’ - Ramsey Solutions reports that nearly 8 out of 10 (79%) millionaires received no inheritance at all. That's right—most millionaires never received a penny from their parents and are first-generation millionaires who come from middle-class or lower-middle-class families. They have had to climb this ladder along the way. There are 5 steps on this ladder, and depending on how the cards fall, sometimes we visit steps more than once.
Survival and Security
These are the first two rungs on the ladder. We find that even in a first-world country like the US we still see folks that must struggle to do both. Finding food, shelter, and whatever job pays the bills. Whether it’s 10% of the population or 30% is not the point, we have people that are struggling – in order for you to be significant, you must believe that each of these people can also grow.
Stability
For some, this is the hardest stage to get through. If we want to be successful we need to get beyond this rung on the ladder. In this stage, you will find most people. Living life, bills are paid, good job, nice family, and a small savings account. Some are hoping to succeed, but they are happy with where they are at. We need to make good choices while in this stage to get through this stage.
Zig Ziglar once said: “When you do more than you're paid to do, you will eventually be paid more for what you do.”
Success
If we are measuring success by income, this is the place you want to get to, right? While you were building your reputation and your wealth, you had made sacrifices along the way.
Did you get the lake house?
Or did you choose to max out your IRA contribution and pay off all your credit card debt?
Did you get to eat at that newest 5-star restaurant?
You get the picture – when they say “must be nice” you know of the tough choices you made along the way. Remember the article from a few days ago, when you say yes to something, you are saying no to everything else.
An added benefit of you making those tough choices - later on in life, you can smile and simply reply, “thank you”.
Significance
If we arbitrarily defined success as a $1 Million net worth, does that mean significance is 10x that? The simple answer is no. The definition of significance is when a person helps others move from one stage to the next. They add value through mentoring, helping, volunteering, and leading. They see that someone needs assistance in something, and it happens to be something they are good at – then they help where they make the biggest impact.
This means that you can live a life of significance while you are still in any of the other stages. What are you good at? What are you great at? We all have special talents that can help others. Each one of us is born with skills, talents, and assets, and those that live intentionally can help raise others. In a nutshell, that is being significant. When you see someone struggling, and you have the tools to help, that is how you can live that life of significance.
Significance is not measured by your wealth, but by your legacy. How many people have you helped through any of these five stages of growth? Mother Teresa lived a life in abject poverty, all the while living a life of significance.
Your legacy can be measured in dollars and sense, but I like to think of it as ‘what are they saying about me when I leave the room?’ – I write this on the anniversary of my Father’s passing. Looking back at his life, it is so clear, you do not have to pass away to have a legacy, you are building it every day.
Each day you have a choice to make. Make it a significant one – make it intentional.
If you are struggling in any of these phases, and still have yet to find your purpose or where you can best add value – the Kole Performance Group can put you to work today so you can have that better tomorrow.
At what point can you lead a life of significance?