Success to Significance

From the book Half Time, by Bob Buford:

'The first half of life has to do with getting and gaining, learning and earning. [success]

Most do this in the most ordinary of ways: getting an education, entering the work force, starting a family, buying a house, earning enough money to provide for needs as well as a few wants, setting goals and climbing toward them. Few leave time in the first half for listening to God.

The second half is more risky because it has to do with living beyond the immediate. It is about releasing the seed of creativity and energy that has been implanted within us, watering and cultivating it so that we may be abundantly fruitful. It involves investing our gifts in service to others - and receiving the personal joy that comes as a result of that spending. This is the kind of risk for which entrepreneurs earn excellent returns much of the time.

True entrepreneurship is not foolhardy, nor does it require particular courage. It merely seeks to gather and examine as many facts as possible about the market and the environment that might impact a decision. And then a decision must quickly be made. Likewise, for the second half of life to be better than the first, you must make the choice to step outside of the safety of living on auto-pilot.

You must wrestle with who you are, why you believe what you profess to believe about your life, and what you do to provide meaning and structure to your daily activities and relationships.
[significance]

There is a risk in this decision: In tossing aside the security blanket that keeps you safe and warm in your cautiously controlled zone of comfort, you may have to set aside familiar markers and reference points. You may feel, at least at first, that you are losing control of your life.

Good for you!

It really is good for you to surrender control and, in the process, come more fully to your senses - those senses that enable you to be aware of life's adventures and its rewards.'

Winners believe that the second half of their lives can be better than the first, and figure out ways to revitalize the second half so that they don't just have mere success but also true significance.