I was recently going through videos on Youtube and ran across a video that struck a emotion with me on Tim Tebow speaking to a large group about the importance and significance of our actions and our lives. If you haven't seen it, it's definitely worth watching:
Tim Tebow's Speech on Significance
It reminded me so much of why most people go into education, although they may not think of it in this light. When you interview teachers and ask them why they went into the field of education, the top responses are usually that they love kids or they love what they teach or because they were impacted by a teacher/coach along the way. How significant is it that someone impacted a child's life so much that they wanted to follow in their footsteps. I am blessed that I get to experience this in my profession and this is such a great honor that you've had this type of impact on someone.
Do you know the difference between success and significance?
Success and significance seem like they'd be synonymous or go hand-in-hand, but there's a distinct difference. The difference goes back to your purpose in your work. Success is knowing your purpose in life, growing to your maximum potential sowing seeds that benefit others The big question is: Once you’ve learned something, do you have a heart to share it with others, or do you hold it for yourself? Success is indeed a journey, but if you stop at adding value to yourself, you miss the reward of significance. The journey is a process that takes time where success is usually the steppingstone to significance. Sometimes it takes a given amount of success in someone's life before they are willing to look beyond success and themselves for a higher purpose or a deeper degree of fulfillment. Rusty Rustenbach, in his pastoral article Giving Yourself Away, hits this topic out of the park. He writes, “You and I live in an age when only a rare minority of individuals desire to spend their lives in pursuit of objectives which are bigger than they are. In our age, for most people, when they die it will be as though they never lived.” Once significance is sensed, nothing else will satisfy. I think Katherine Graham put it best: “To love what you do and feel that it matters—how could anything be more fun?” I know a lot of people who love what they do but don’t feel it matters much. And I know some people who don’t love what they do but do feel it matters. But when you can love what you do and feel that it is making a difference in the lives of others, now you have the right combination.
The changes that teachers and school administrators have encountered and overcome over the past two years have been tremendous, probably as much or more than any other time in history. There has been a great degree of success, but the work we do in education is undoubtedly significant in the lives of many children each and every day. Our work matters and I hope teachers still find joy and fulfillment in their work. When people say they don't teach for the money, it doesn't mean they don't need or want a paycheck. It simply means there's a greater purpose to their work and a level of significance derived for the outcomes they see in generations of children. They know the impact of their work is going to live on far past their time.
Five Differences Between Success and Significance (John Maxwell)
1. Motives
With success, my motives may be selfish; with significance, my motives cannot be selfish. Significance and selfishness are incompatible. When I was a young pastor, I would go to a church and look at my laypeople, and my first thought—as wrong as it was—was, What can they do to help me? As I matured, it turned around where I would think, What can I do to help them? In my experience, motives matter because: • Selfish people seldom find significance. • When you help others, you help yourself. When you help yourself, you may not help others. • As Solomon wrote in Proverbs 23:7, “As [a man] thinketh in his heart, so is he.”
2. Influence
With success, my influence is limited; with significance, my influence is unlimited. Here’s an anonymous quote I found that will help illustrate: “When you influence a child, you influence a life. When you influence a father, you influence a family. When you influence a leader, you influence all who look to him or her for leadership.”
3. Time
Success can last a lifetime; significance can last several lifetimes. People who desire significance value time. They evaluate what they do with their time, and they invest their time wisely. M. Scott Peck said, “Until you value yourself, you won’t value your time. Until you value your time, you will not do anything with it.”
4. Focus
Success asks, “How can I add value to myself?” Significance asks, “How can I add value to others?” My evolution from selfishness to significance went something like this: What can others do for me? → What can I do for myself? → What can I do for others? → What can I do with others, for others?
5. Reward
If I pursue success, my joy is the result of my success; if I pursue significance, my joy is the result of others’ success. Very frequently I’m asked what motivates me. And I tell you, I crossed the line a few years ago where the success of other people is a higher reward to me than my own success. Why is it so rewarding for me to add value to others? First, it’s my calling. Second, it’s so productive to get beyond myself and to help people grow and develop. And third, it’s rewarding for me because it pleases God.
