Do you want to live a significant life? Do you want to make a difference?

I think most of us do. We chase plans, looking for meaning, and get frustrated when we don’t see where our lives are headed. Like Lindsey said yesterday, we take an inkling of what God has planned and run with it, without checking back to see if we are headed the right direction.

For me, the concept of “plans” and “success” collide together in this desire to live a meaningful life. So when Chip MacGregor wrote this post on success, it spoke right to me. The story of how I met Chip and now am represented by his agency I’ll reserve for later in the week, but for now, let’s hear read an excerpt from Chip about this idea of success, significance and judgment (or read the post in its entirety).

Here’s Chip:

Years ago, I used to teach a workshop on creating a plan for your life. (Remember, I’m the guy who went through a doctoral program in organizational development.) In that workshop, I used to tell people that “success is the feeling you get when you reach your goals.” I still stand by that definition. (And I don’t know who came up with it, but it’s not original to me — I think it might be a bit of wisdom from Bobb Biehl.) If you set a goal of getting one book contract this year, when you actually sign the deal, that wonderful feeling you have is the feeling of success….

Is that shallow? Of course it is! Who wants to live his life solely on the feelings of the moment? I don’t. I want my kids to know I love them, whether I’m feeling like a successful dad or not. I want my relationship with God to be permanent, whether I’m currently feeling like a nice Christian boy or not (um…often it’s “not”). Success as a feeling is awfully fleeting — as soon as your one successful book starts to wane, you have to go do another one to regain the feeling of being “a successful author.” So that’s why I remind myself that there is something more important than “success” in my life — there is the concept of “significance.”

Again, going back twenty years ago to the workshop I used to teach, I always encouraged people to consider “significance” over “success.” Significant people are those who made a difference in our world, whether they attained success or not. In fact, I defined “significance” as “making a difference in the lives of people over time.” And I still encourage people to make a commitment to be significant. Why? Because I think true meaning in life is not found just in achieving the feeling of success, but in living with the knowledge that we made a difference in the lives of others. Maybe that’s why “service” is so important to living a good life. None of the saints ever achieved greatness by exalting themselves — instead, it was normally by giving themselves up for others. I still think one of the most overlooked messages in modern Christianity is the notion that true joy is found in giving, not in getting. (Oops…I’m preaching.)

Look, some of the best writers and artists of all time have not achieved success. Van Gogh felt himself an utter failure. So did Poe. Hawthorne never really felt successful. Their “success” (in terms of book sales) came after their deaths. And some of the best American writers achieved great success, but died unhappy because they couldn’t retain the feeling (and probably because they were so focused on themselves that they never figured out how to be significant in the lives of others)….

You know, the guy who stepped in to help me after my dad’s suicide was no success. I was 12, and I needed a mature guy in my life. Jim Peabody pushed a broom in a steel mill and probably never made more than $25,000 a year. He died at age 40 of liver cancer. You’ve never heard his name before — he didn’t write any books or get on television or run for office. He wasn’t a celebrity, or gain any national attention. But Jim is one of the most significant men I ever met. He took a bunch of teenage boys who didn’t have fathers, or who were from rough homes, or who were living in the thriving town of Witch Hazel, Oregon, and showed us all how to be men. Today I can point to writers, teachers, chemical engineers, US Navy officers, pastors, and solid husbands and fathers who are all at least partially the result of Jim’s work in their lives. I’m proud to be one of them. I’d like to be more like Jim. I wouldn’t be the guy I am if it hadn’t been for him. AND I can point to dozens of other lives that were changed because the guys Jim discipled turned around and discipled others. There have been hundreds of people influenced because of Jim’s life — a more-or-less “unsuccessful” guy who ended up living a significant life. I’ve always thought that was something Jim could take with him. There was no temporary feeling of success or failure, but a firm belief that the world is a different place because of his little ministry in the lives of a bunch of dopey guys….

I’ve only had one significant thought my entire life. But, since it relates to today’s topic, I’ll share it here: Judgment happens at the end of time.

I don’t know how you feel about the concept of judgment, and no, it’s not a popular topic. I fear the church has focused a bit too much on judging people, worrying who’s making mistakes rather than how we all should be nice to each other. But if you read what the bible says about judgment, it makes it clear that God doesn’t hand out rewards the day we die. (I don’t care if you believe the bible or not — just stay with me for a minute.) Judgment happens at the end of time. Why? Because it won’t be until the end of time that the full influence of a life can be measured. The people Jim Peabody impacted are still making a difference in the world, so the full effect of Jim’s life isn’t done yet. Therefore God is going to wait until the end of time, when we can all appreciate the influence Jim had on the world, and he can be rewarded appropriately. Conversely, this is why Hitler hasn’t been judged by God yet. His writings still influence people for evil, and the full extent of that evil won’t be able to be completely evaluated until the end of time, after every life has been lived. Whether you believe in the same sort of theology doesn’t matter to me – we all want to believe in an eternal justice of some kind, so most of us assume something like this is what awaits people. And that’s why significance matters more than success.

As a writer and agent, I want to live a life of significance. I keep seeing “success” as a necessary part of earning a living, but I worry about throwing my life away in trying to achieve it. Maybe this is why Saint Paul encourages all of us to “make it your ambition to lead a quiet life,” so that we’ll have a mind focused on significance instead of mere success.

Chip MacGregor is the man when it comes to making book deals–he’s made more than a 1,000 in his career. And if you are even thinking about writing, you best starting reading his blog, like yesterday. He gives the straight up scoop about the writing life. So check out his real bio and head over to his blog to learn more (almost everything) about writing and publishing.