Purpose over Success

"Living for your purpose may not guarantee success, but it will always guarantee a life of meaning."

My main goal with this page is to provide such high quality revelation about life, that our cultural perspective and understanding of life changes. My vision and the sole purpose of me writing all these blogs is to cause a change in the way we view, perceive and understand God and life. More specifically, my current obsession is to redefine the meaning and concept of success that we have and hold as a society.

You see, 10 years ago I joined the new rat race of success of the Millennials and the Z generation. I became so obsessed of wanting to become "successful," that in its chase I was literally loosing myself. Someone tricked me into buying this new American dream of entrepreneurship that for a split second I almost abandoned everything that I believed up to that point. I remember being so fixated with becoming an entrepreneur—because this is what success is all about nowadays—that I was so unhappy, frustrated and miserable with my current career path at that time because I wasn't "winning" as an entrepreneur as the people around me were. For starters, this new philosophy of success, almost made me dropped out of college—and thank God I didn't! Please don't get me wrong here, I completely understand that going to college will not make you successful and going to college is not the path to success, but what a college degree did for me was simply give me a better chance to provide for myself and for my family. That is it. I mean, would you rather struggle to make a living or simply just earn your living?

As we talk about this college thing and this new success—as I choose to call it—I find it very interesting that major universities and colleges now offer entrepreneurship degrees, but what's more shocking to me is how colleges are not bankrupt and going out of business, to be honest. Why? Because our current generation is only interested in that Insta success. Our generation is the only generation that have people who are successful for having, doing or producing nothing of value. Our society is filled with people—young, adult and elderly—who only live for the Gram, but their lives have no essence, no value, no real substance. Hence, no meaning and no purpose. This fake cultural approach we have adopted in our society as a whole is affecting our emotional and psychological well-being and although everyone is completely aware of it, no one seems to care. That's the crazy part! Never in the history of humanity, have people experienced the high levels of loneliness, anxiety, depression, sadness, dissatisfaction and frustration like today. I remember all those days, weeks and years of feeling so miserable and unhappy with my life. Why? Because we've been trained and secretly condition to "be more and to have more." And I fell for its trap; I felt like I had to had more "success," seek more accomplishments, and "hit higher goals." Have you taken the time to really think how this social media madness has define what success is and what it means to you? Another effect of this new success mindset is work. People do not want to work anymore, especially after the pandemic. People just want to be an overnight success online and travel and be "free to do whatever you want" type of life.

"Finding a purpose and working for a purpose is the true heart of entrepreneurship."

Growing up, entrepreneurship had a different cultural meaning than what we have today. I remember that entrepreneurs were real innovators, inventors, geniuses and those out-of-the-box thinkers who discovered new things and who devoted their lives for a cause, a firm conviction of their ideas that revolutionized our current world. Real entrepreneurs don't work or live for the success, money, wealth, lavish lifestyle and the ambition goals—although that is what we see and is what all the "gurus" teach and show. True entrepreneurs are people who have found a purpose in the work that they do that gives their lives a sense of meaning and fulfillment. Finding a purpose and working for a purpose is the true heart of entrepreneurship. True entrepreneurship has never and will never be about making money or success. Long gone are the days when people used to go to work, not to make money, not even to make ends meet, but for a cause that gave themselves a sense of purpose and significance in life. A work that gave their life a reason for being. That their life mattered. That's why I am so passionate to bring back this concept of purpose, life and meaning.

A few years ago, I when to work for a start up company—and at that time I was already playing with the idea of living my life for true purpose and fulfillment—and I remember the very first day asking the founder and owner of this new company, "What is your goal? What is the vision and the purpose for your company?" His answered was, "to be the number one company." I got so mad and upset, and replied, "the number one at what and for what?! Why did you started this company? Why does your company exist? What's its cause? What's its purpose? What are you trying to accomplish?" I kept asking. After many questions and pondering, the real answer came. The owner since his childhood always loved and enjoyed sketching and drawing, and he always admired his father for being an engineer, so he started his company within the mechanical engineering and construction industry to give use to his childhood hobby, to provide beautiful shop drawings and sketches that would simplify both, fabrication of parts and installation easiness, and to meet a much needed demand in the industry. And that was a purpose that I felt compelled to work for. Businesses and owners that are only driven by profits are slowly but safely working to meet their expiration date.

"Success is the ability to experience meaning and fulfillment because of working on one's true purpose."

As I mentioned, true entrepreneurs truly work for a real cause. I'll take the chance to say that a real cause, is any reason you personally have to do something that is not related in any shape or form to success at all! Entrepreneurs work for a reason that give themselves and the people around them a sense of meaning and purpose in life. You must get that! As a matter a fact, you should write that down and carry it with you: "true entrepreneurs work and live their lives with and for a purpose." If you are an already established entrepreneur or an upcoming one, I challenge you to rethink your reason for doing what you do. I am one to believe that you can make a lot of money and become extra, mega, ultra, and very successful with any endeavor that you choose to, but only those that choose to live for a real purpose are the ones that get to live a life of real impact and contribution. Living for your purpose may not guarantee success, but it will always guarantee a life of meaning. And those are the names of the people that make history. Take the woman who anointed Jesus, for example, with the costly perfume just before his crucifixion and burial. What did Jesus said about her? “Assuredly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her,”(1). Did you catch it? Jesus himself said that this woman—which by the way the Bible never mentioned what her name was—would always be remembered in history because of making just one act based on purpose. What one act based on purpose are you taking that is making your name to be recorded in history? Don't get yourself confused now and think that because you are a successful individual, we will remember your name. This woman made zero gains from acting with purpose. It is not success that makes people be part of history, it's their selfish acts of purpose. Now, I know that I am over emphasizing this concept, but there's a reason for it. Society has over emphasized success so much, that we as a people, we have made it the aim and goal of life. We literally think and believe that the overall purpose of life is to become successful and have this amazing rich lifestyle, when Jesus taught the exact opposite. Jesus' words—over 2,000 years ago!—were; "why are you so consumed about your life, what will you eat, drink and wear? Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? So why do you worry about [these things]?"(2) and "one's life does not consist in the abundance of the things [one] possesses"(3). Pretty interesting, isn't it? No other words can best describe today's world and generation. His solution to this crisis? Focus on fulfilling your assignment for the kingdom of God(4).

I have this illusion—because it's really a crazy dream—that 10, or 25, or 55 years from now, when someone searches for the definition of success on Google the following definition comes up: "success is the ability to experience meaning and fulfillment because of working on one's true purpose." This is my reason and my purpose. I want to live in a world where people are walking and working in their God-given purpose, regardless of any gains or benefits, because people choose to live a life of meaning and fulfillment. I choose Purpose over Success today. The question is, will you? Will you choose to live your life for something so significant to God that will force Him to record your name in history?

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References:

(1) Matthew‬ ‭26‬:‭13‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

(2) Luke 12:22-31 NKJV

(3) Luke 12:15 NKJV

(4) Matthew 6:33 NKJV