Why Your Life of Significance Matters

Why Your Life of Significance Matters

Warwick Fairfax

June 21, 2024

We talk a lot about a life of significance at Beyond The Crucible.  We say that your worst day, your crucible, should not define you.  That you need a vision, a life of significance (a life on purpose dedicated to serving others) that gives your life meaning and purpose.  That vision can often come from the ashes of your crucible, using your pain to help others avoid what happened to you or to better recover from their own crucibles as they seek to move forward.

A challenge, which can sometimes feel like a big challenge, is how  to know whether our vision, our life of significance, is enough.  We might feel  our vision is small, too small.  The people we want to help seem like a drop in the bucket.  The need is so great and what we are going to do feels like it will make only a minimal, almost a negligible difference.  Besides, there are others who are making a difference on a global scale.  We might even have friends who seem to be making a bigger difference than we will ever hope to.

All this can make us feel pretty despondent, even depressed.  It can all feel pretty hopeless.  Why even bother?

These can feel like attacks on our soul, our very essence and on what we would hope our life would be about and what we seek to accomplish with our life.

Here are some thoughts about why your life of significance matters:

1. Your life matters and your life of significance matters. You have to ask yourself, is this vision, this life of significance, important to me?  Is this what I want to devote my life to?  If the answer is yes, then that may be the key question.   Your life of significance matters to you.

2. Is this vision, this life of significance something that you are off-the-charts passionate about? If the answer is yes that is a very good sign.  A vision that will last is something you wake up at night thinking about, dreaming about, getting excited about.

3. Do you have the skills and abilities to bring this vision to reality? There should be a core of skills that are needed that you have.  You can absolutely build a team around you to support you.  This could be a formal team or an informal team including advisers.  But you should have some key contribution to make as part of your vision, your life of significance.

4. Think about why you want to help the people you want to help. The why matters.  Your why matters.  The why will tell a lot about your motivation and why you think this vision, this life of significance is so important.

5. Think about all the people you can help. Think of the difference you can make in their lives.  Focus on that difference.

6. Think about what would happen if those people are not helped. Even if it is only one person.  Is one person’s life being changed enough?

7. Finally and potentially most importantly, it is not a competition. What other people are doing with their life of significance does not matter.  It is fine to admire them, perhaps even learn from them.  Comparison can be intimidating and even demotivating.  Focus on your vision, your life of significance, what is on your heart.  So long as you are being true to that vision, that is all that matters.

Having a life of significance is not a numbers game.  There will always be more people to help than you or any person can possibly help.  It is about being faithful to the vision, the life of significance that is on your heart.  It is about living out your calling, you might even feel it is your destiny.

Be faithful to your calling.  Be faithful to your vision.  Be faithful to your life of significance.  That is enough.