A lifelong struggle of mine has been balancing an intense desire for achievement and exercising true gratitude for what I already have. It seems that every time I reach the finish line, I find the finish line has moved. And it wasn’t moved by someone else, it was moved by me. Every victory looks trivial in light of a new challenge ahead. There is never enough time for celebration or true gratitude.
“The secret to getting everything you ever wanted is knowing that you already have it.”
Over the years I’ve grown to simultaneously love and hate the above quote. I love it because it speaks truth, a deep truth I know in the depths of my soul. But I hate it because I find it simply unlivable. Am I really not to strive for anything? When is enough truly enough?
Recently my friend Dale Partridge shared a quote on his podcast that hit me like a ton of bricks:
“What if your greatest achievement isn’t something you do, but someone you raise?”
Up until hearing this poignant question, if you would ask me what my greatest accomplishment was, my mind would first drift to professional achievements.
What if I valued the process of building up people as much as I valued building a business? What if my burning ambition in my business can be redirected towards empowering and building up people: my employees, my business partners, and my family.
The secret then lies not in killing my ambition, but by refocusing the beneficiary of that ambition. My company isn’t big enough because there are more people to help. My company can never grow enough because people can never grow enough.