7 choices

An excerpt from Seven Choices for Success and Significance by Dr. Nido R. Qubein

What is success? Only you can define it in your own life. In my own life, I have attempted to define both Success and Significance.

To me, Success is secular. Significance is spiritual.

It doesn’t matter how you define your own spirituality. Spiritual matters are always finer, deeper, and longer lasting than secular matters.

Success focuses on three Fs:

• Fans
• Fame
• Fortune

Success is focused on tasks, even goals.

Significance also focuses on three Fs:

• Faith
• Family
• Friends

But, significance focuses on purpose. Why am I here? What do I do with the talents, experiences and skills that I have? How can I make the world a better place? How do I plant seeds of greatness in the lives of those around me? How do I make an impact in the circles of influence where I find or place myself?

To choose success and significance, you must be a strategic thinker who:

• Has a clear vision of what you want to accomplish
• Develops a solid strategy that answers three questions:

- Who or what are we today?

- Who do we want to become?
- How do we get there?

• Employs practical systems to achieve your goals
• Commits to consistent execution because in consistency, success
emerges.

When implementing your strategic plan for success, it really comes down to three “Ds”:

Decide what you want most to achieve
Determine the first step to getting what you want
Do the first thing that will start you moving toward your goal.

Using these seven keys, you can choose success and significance. But keep this in mind: success is not a matter of luck, not an accident of birth, not a reward for virtue. The most successful people I know are the ones who have something to do, somewhere to be and someone to love.

No one is responsible for your success or your joy. You must search for it and be in a continual state of earning it.

To merely succeed is not an end in itself. You must use your success to impact other people…to impact the world…to Live Life from the Inside Out.

It all starts with the choices you make – they determine the person you will become.