John C. Maxwell - The Journey from Success to Significance

The
JOURNEY FROM SUCCESS
to SIGNIFICANCE

The
JOURNEY FROM SUCCESS
toSIGNIFICANCE

EVERY LEADERS QUEST

JOHN C. MAXWELL

THE JOURNEY FROM SUCCESS TO SIGNIFICANCE

Originally published in the USA as The Journey from Success to Significance by J. Countryman,
a division of Thomas Nelson, Inc, in 2004. Published in association with Yates &
Yates, LLP, Literary Agents, Orange, California.

First South African edition in 2011 by Struik Inspirational Gifts
New Holland Publishing (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd
(New Holland Publishing is a member of Avusa Ltd)
Cornelis Struik House
80 McKenzie Street
Cape Town 8001

Reg. No. 1971/009721/07

Text Maxwell Motivation, Inc. 2004

Scripture quotations in this book are taken from
The Amplified Bible (AMP) 1987, Zondervan Publishing House;
The Holy Bible, New International Version (NIV) 1984, International Bible Society;
The Holy Bible, New King James Version (NKJV) 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc.
Used with permission.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise,
without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Project management by Lana Coetzee
DTP design by Lebeaux Grobler
Cover design by Lebeaux Grobler

ISBN 978-1-4153-0742-7 (Print)
ISBN 978-1-4153-1490-6 (ePub)
ISBN 978-1-4153-1491-3 (PDF)

www.struikinspirationalgifts.co.za

CONTENTS

W hen you are eighty or ninety, and youre sitting on the porch rocking and looking back on your life, how will you feel about it? You wont have to answer to anyone or fulfill their expectations not your parents or your business associates or your spouse. What will you have done with the gift of life? The answer will be important to you then, so the question should be important to you now.

The course of your life is determined by

The relationships you form

The decisions you make

The actions you take

Each has the potential to change the course of your life.

If youre not doing something with your life, it doesnt matter how long it is. If you are doing something with your life, it doesnt matter how long it is. Life does not consist of years lived, but of its usefulness. Your focus must be beyond yourself. If you are giving, loving, serving, helping, encouraging, and adding value to others, you are living a useful life. That is significance.

Success is when I add value to myself.
Significance is when I add value to others.

JOHN C. MAXWELL

As long as leaders worry about who sits at the head table, they have little time for the people they are called to serve. We dont see opportunities for service while our eyes are fixed on the competition.

C. GENE WILKES

This is the true joy of life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy. I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community, and as long as I live it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no brief candle to me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.

GEORGE BERNARD SHAW

Its easy to make a buck. Its a lot tougher to make a difference.

TOM BROKAW

Many persons have the wrong idea of what constitutes happiness. It is not attained through self-gratification but through fidelity to a worthy purpose.

HELEN KELLER

O ne evening at Sagamore Hill, President Theodore Roosevelts home in New York, naturalist William Beebe walked outside with his host. Roosevelt searched the star-filled night sky and, finding a small glow below the corner of the constellation Pegasus, he said, This is the spiral galaxy Andromeda. It is as large as our Milky Way. It consists of one hundred billion suns. It is one of a hundred billion galaxies. Then Roosevelt looked at Beebe and said, Now, I think we are small enough! Lets go to bed.

A certain authority attaches to all leaders, and leadership would be impossible without it Leaders have power, but power is safe only in the hands of those who humble themselves to serve.

JOHN R.W. STOTT

I believe that it is not dying that people are afraid of. Something else. Something more unsettling and more tragic than dying frightens us. Were afraid of never having lived. Of coming to the end of our days with the sense that we were never really alive. That we ever figured out what life was for.

HAROLD KUSHNER

Shun those studies in which the work that results dies with the worker.

LEONARDO DA VINCI

The thing is to understand myself, to see what God really wishes me to do to find the idea for which I can live and die.

SREN KIERKEGAARD

Doing nothing for others is the undoing of ones self. We must be purposely kind and generous, or we miss the best part of existence. The heart that goes out of itself gets large and full of joy. This is the great secret of the inner life. We do ourselves the most good doing something for others.

HORACE MANN

Show me a man who cannot bother to do little things and Ill show you a man who cannot be trusted to do big things.

LAWRENCE D. BELL

Ultimately we do everything for one of two reasons: To serve ourselves, or to serve God.