What Type of Person Do You Want to Become

“Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value.” Albert Einstein

What a profound quote by one of the most successful and intelligent minds. What does he mean by this? Don’t we all want to be successful? I know I do. What is your measure or definition of success? Is it how much money you make or the accolades you receive? Success in the modern world is typically defined by the job you have. You are “successful” if you have the C-suite office, start a thriving company, etc. While these are great accomplishments we should be proud of, this is not what matters when defining success in your life.

What matters is the path we took to get where we are. Did you cut corners, lie, cheat, and deceive or did you get there through hard work, dedication and honesty? Sometimes we put people on pedestals because they appear to have it all, but at the end of the day they are in this world only to stroke their own ego and beat everyone else. When we live our life for achievements alone, we can lose sight of what really matters….how we show up for others.

To me, “a man (or woman) of value” positively contributes to society and tries to make the community a better place. You can attain all the achievements in the world, but if you had to step on everyone to get there, what good did you actually do? As I started out in my finance career, all I really cared about was how much money I was making and how could I move up as quick as possible. I had a desire to be noticed. I wanted people to see me as a success and I believed this occurred through money and power. I was chasing external achievements to make myself full. Now that I’m older and have more life experience, I realize that this is not the path to happiness and fulfillment. There is no amount of money that can make you happy if you don’t already have an internal sense of well-being. I spent most of my 20s and early 30s chasing the dollar and trying to appear successful to my friends and family.

Now I am more focused on adding value to my community. Yes, I still need to make a living and can’t give away my services for free. If I do that, I won’t be able to provide them for long. However, what I can do is look for opportunities to help as many people as possible. I can continue sharing my story in hopes it might help others. I frequently reflect on the Memento Mori coin I have on my desk which says, “You could leave life right now. Let that determine what you do and say and think.” We only have so much time on this earth. It is best to do as much good as possible in the time God gives us. So, stop living in fear of others’ perceptions of you or what they may think.  Focus on adding value to this world and seeing all the great things that can happen as a result.

To Sum it Up

How are you showing up in this world?  Are you here for your own ego trying to garner as much attention as possible or are you here to help those around you?  Success in life is not about external achievements.  While we all have goals we would like to attain, true success is about how much value you can provide.  If we can bring value to those around us, not only will we feel rewarded but the universe will work to provide for us.  This does not mean give your services away.  You must charge what you are worth in order to keep providing value.   On most occasions free services don’t provide much value because the participant does not have any skin in the game and will not keep it up.  In your business and in life, are you a person of value?  If not, look inside to determine how you can become one and begin taking steps towards that vision.

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