Successful or Significant?

If you were a ship at sea and discovered someone alive and floating in the water, do you think that they would care about how many successful voyages you have had or do you think the only thing that mattered to them was that you were there when they needed you the most?

About a year or more ago, I was sitting in church and my pastor made a statement that has stuck in my head for all of this time. He said that he was moving from a place of being successful to a place of being significant and challenged us to do the same.

I applied this to my personal life BUT I used this as a thought process for my business as well. I mean what is success anyway? It is really left up to interpretation. One would say that money is part of the equation, but then again, success can happen without money depending how you look at it. In business, many people chase money and equate that to success. I also think that people have the tendency to get caught up in success. They use success to define who they are on a day to day basis.

Significance takes on a whole different meaning and I really didn’t see it clearly until I started really thinking about what I do in my career in photography. I really can’t even call it a career because that sounds too much like work. I am a lifestyle wedding photographer and love every minute of it. It’s my passion! When two people decide to join their lives together and become one, I play a significant role in that special time. Beyond the contracts, beyond the money, and beyond the beautiful destinations, there is probably one of the most important roles that any one person can be entrusted with on that special day and that is documenting a couples love and commitment. It is a significant role that has a lifetime of impact.

If I had to choose between being successful and being significant, I would choose to be significant. Why? Because success is inevitable when you are determined to be significant in the lives of others.