Finding significance in this world is vital. It serves as a driving force for individuals to strive hard, live and survive the predicaments that they’ facing. In fact, finding significance is part of the human need.
As entrepreneurs, finding significance is important because it helps business owners see their roles in the society they live in.
However, there can be a double edge sword in finding one’s significance.
When an entrepreneur seeks significance, the tendency is, he or she encounters both favorable and unfavorable consequences.
One one hand, significance allows entrepreneurs to create, innovate, and implement. On the other, NOT finding significance in one’s life can lead to disappointment and discontent.
Every day we are faced with an underlying struggle to find significance. Even if we are drowned with a heavy workload, we still end up contemplating whether or not we’ve contributed something big, whether or not our work matters.
Impact on the world
Being able to impact the world, finding significance, becoming more, also fuels your want for control. You want to calibrate and control things so that it will coincide with your goal.
As your business grows, your number of employees, responsibilities and task also increases.
This will, later on, trigger you to delegate the tasks and even outsource from other companies or people.
When other people fail, and inevitably the delays it causes, it seems you are no longer in control and you begin to question your significance. The same scenario can arise when the people you outsourced are performing too well that they no longer need your supervision. Then again it all leads to you questioning your significance in this world.
Perfection is not control
Now, one of the interesting things is that perfection isn't about control. It's about letting go and while you may feel significant right now in your business you have to realize that at a certain point, your business isn't about feeding your significance.
It's more about your customers. Now it's not about you feeling important, it's not about just you or being the CEO or you being the entrepreneur.
Selflessness vs wanting significance
You have to manage your team. You have to put somebody else’s feelings and emotions and needs above yours. In short, you need to be selfless and consider the feelings of other people.
Meanwhile, the want to feel significant is equally important to one’s selflessness. The want to feel significant propels people to do more and be better. It encourages them to do good deeds and perform acts that can catch the attention of others.
You may have noticed that a lot of people are posting on Facebook. Wanting to be significant propels these people to create content on Facebook because the number of likes and comments fuels their significance.
Owning Significance
It is fine to admit to yourself that you want to feel significant. But it is not fine if you are not acting upon that need to feel significant.
It is absolutely all right to consciously think and realize that you're here for a greater purpose. Believing that your significance is anchored on the existence of your business is okay. And if you can get past that if you can go to that next level.
Finding significance from within
The next level is finding significance from within. This is actually self-actualization wherein you find significance within and not from other sources.
Once you’ve reached this level of self-actualization, you can look in the mirror and say “you know what”, “I am”, “I am here”.
That's the key to success. That's a key to actually be able to let go and find that perfection because control comes in.
Solution
So, if you want to get to the next level all you have to do is to challenge yourself.
Are you doing what you do for significance?
Are you doing it for impact?
Are you doing it for the greater good?
Who are you doing it for?
And then further than that, when is the day you're going to look in the mirror and say I am enough?