PICKING A FIGHT

Meaning, purpose, significance: these are deep rooted desires in the human heart. Arguably, every sane individual wants their life to have meaning and purpose-they want to be significant in some way. As a matter of fact, the absence of meaning and purpose in an individual’s life creates a void that is often filled pursuing whatever that person thinks will bring fulfillment. The tragedy of this is that we end up chasing after things that do not really add to a meaningful life. Perhaps, one such elusive pursuit is the pursuit for success; often seen to be the accumulation of material things in abundance. Without taking anything away from this type of success, a truly successful life is one that positively impacts other people. In fact, I call this significance rather than success.
The principles that I share in this book are meant to challenge you to move from success to significance. They are very simple to understand yet demand courage to apply.
My personal experience over the years as a motivational/inspirational teacher has made me realize the importance of emphasizing significance-a message rarely propagated in our society today. Evidently, we hear more about success than we do about significance. We see it on the billboards that advertise well-clad men and women who have become a symbol of success.
When you look at the lives of individuals who lived what can be accurately defined as significant living, we see common traits in them, one of which is courage which I have already referred to. The other important trait is responsibility-the ability to respond correctly to a situation as I like to see it. You will see that taking responsibility is key to living a significant life.
Significance isn’t about what you can get out of life; it is about what you can give to it. It is about realizing that you have something to give and finding the courage to give it. It is about responding to things that break your heart and not merely blaming other people for the mess that was caused.
Having spoken to a number of people on the subject of picking a fight, I am certain that what you are about to have is an experience-not just the reading of another book.