Today we’re discussing one of the most important problems that you, as an individual, have to solve today: Significance. Or, better yet, the lack thereof.
Hello and welcome back to another entry in the Honest Talks series, where we talk about things that we find intriguing—and you might as well. And today’s topic is Significance.
Let’s dive right in!
Don’t worry if you don’t feel like reading, you can enjoy the video below or watch the video on YouTube:
As you may know, one of our favorite podcasts to listen to is the one Tim Ferriss does, where he interviews world-class leaders on how they do things.
And one recent episode really caught our eye and made us wonder.
It was the episode with Seth Godin, the world-renowned marketer, and, as he likes to think of himself, a freelancer.
And one of the topics they touched on was how much of an impact, positively or negatively, significance can have on your life.
Seth Godin said that he interviewed 10,000 people about the best job they ever had.
And he gave them 14 different options on why that job was great, including:
“I was paid a lot of money, and I didn’t have much work to do”.
And to his surprise, he found one common answer that was the same across the board, regardless of country, industry, or level of education.
Now, the most common answer Seth Godin received under “the best job I ever had” was:
- I achieved more than I thought I could.
- I was respected.
- And I did work that I was proud of.
Let’s break them down individually.
There is no person on earth who doesn’t actually want to work hard or challenge themselves.
Even those who stay up all day and play video games get competitive.
In fact, they train to get better. They actually challenge themselves to improve.
It’s an innate feature we have as humans. The need to improve.
And this need must be satisfied. If someone ever tells you you don’t work hard enough, what they really mean is “you work in a place where you are unable to do your best work”. Now, here’s where significance comes in.
Firstly, to be respected means to be seen and heard.
Moreover, it means to be allowed to succeed and fail.
If your work is purely attached to a metric, then you are a metric yourself. And you are only as respected as the lowest metric.
If you’re a salesperson and your only measurement of success is the number of sales you close in a month, then someone who makes more sales will eventually take your place.
And if you can’t be proud of your work, it’s impossible to put any soul into it and make it special.
You see, if we break this down, what we really find is the desire to be significant.
To know that you are seen and that what you do actually matters.
So why is this so important?
If you look around, the world gets a bit more nihilistic day by day. You can’t discern what’s real from what isn’t that easily anymore.
You have fake news and misinformation poisoning your thought process. Corporate greed puts millions of people in a position where they can’t provide for their families.
Climate change is making parts of the world inhabitable.
The world gets a bit crazier every day.
And with all of this happening, it’s fairly common to default to:
- You know what? What’s even the point of all of this?
- Why should I go to work?
- Why should I do my best?
- Why should I do anything besides follow my moment-to-moment impulses?
And this is why you see a ton of people saying “Screw it, I’m going home”.
They can’t find the mental energy to keep going, especially when it’s not clear where exactly they are headed. This raises the problem of why feeling significant is so important in today’s world.
You see, significance is the feeling you get when you point at something and say
“Look, I made that, and it’s great”. It’s about doing things that matter to you.
You see, being pessimistic doesn’t give you any benefits.
It’s a sad way to view the world. And it’s really a shame because there are a lot of cool things you could do with your time if you have a different perspective.
Realistically, the best approach will always be to have a positive attitude.
To be optimistic about the future and to find significance in your life.
So how do you do that? How can one find significance?
First of all, significance comes from change.
You need to ask yourself: What do I want to change, and who does the change benefit?
Because here’s the reality:
You, as an individual, have absolutely no power. You can’t change sh*t at a global level.
Do you really think those paper straws are helping anyone? It’s all marketing and public opinion.
Which is why you need to start with yourself. With the one in the mirror, like MJ said.
The first step in finding significance is to start with you and your immediate environment.
If you take a look at your life, you will surely find a series of things that are not how you’d like them to be and are in your total control.
Maybe it’s how clean your house is.
Or how you speak to other people, or how you treat those you work with. There will always be something that can be done better.
Now, before we move forward with this, there is another topic we need to talk about. It’s all connected, and it will all make sense in the end.
Let’s talk about motivation for a minute.
People love motivation, they rely on it every day. And they look outside to find it.
- That’s why you clean your house when a friend is coming over.
- Or why you go to the gym right before summer because you saw someone ripped on Instagram?
- Or why you got a suit because someone on LinkedIn wears one.
You see when you rely on outside factors to motivate yourself, you become conditioned by it. And the minute you stop being exposed to those factors, the motivation immediately goes away.
Think back to the pandemic.
Most people were in lockdown, meaning nobody could see them daily. For the same reason, most people got fat because, well, no one could see them anyway.
Immediately, the motivation to stay healthy went away the minute there were no external factors.
Meaning they didn’t stay fit for themselves, but for other people.
In addition, now they don’t want to go anywhere because, well, they need to get fit first.
Finally, the cycle continues.
You see, as long as you condition yourself against external factors, you’ll never be able to do the things you want, for the reasons you want.
Which brings us back to significance.
As long as you allow yourself to be in an environment where what you do doesn’t matter, you’re not respected, and you’re not proud of what you’re doing, you won’t be able to find a sense of significance, or purpose.
So do yourself a favor, take ownership and accountability for your environment, and hold yourself to higher standards.
You will only gain if you do so.
Don’t wait for someone else to tell you what to do, and how to do it.
And don’t rely on outside factors to motivate you to change things for the better. It’s better to be optimistic and part of the answer than part of the problem.
We challenge you to find something that can be done better and make the change happen, without anyone telling you.
In fact, you’ll soon find that your life dramatically improves once you adopt this new perspective.
We hope you’ve enjoyed this piece as much as we did making it. See you next Saturday for the next entry in the Honest Talks series.
In the meantime, check out our app – we fill it with endless insights from people who’ve already done incredible things – and they’re ready to inspire you on your journey to achieve significance.
