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As I write this hundreds of individuals from all corners of the world are working hard and practicing their chosen sport in preparation for the upcoming Olympics. Most have spent years aiming for one goal, one target achievement to be qualified to compete in this worldwide arena. The target now will be succeeding to earn a medal signifying he or she is “the best.” That theme echoed in the film, The Boys in the Boat, about an unlikely eight-man crew team from Washington competing in the 1936 Olympics. 

Many of us are driven for success in some area of our lives. It may not be sports. It could be in the area of the arts, academic achievement, culinary arts, business acumen, or nearly any area you think of. To get there, targets are identified that must be hit on the right mark in order to move toward the ultimate goal. Some hit those targets while others miss the mark. We value success highly in the current age but why is it not more satisfying when we see reaching such benchmarks as progress whether it’s personal or for our community or society?

Perhaps the famous words of Winston Churchill give us a clue. In our striving for success, we forget that the mark we achieve sets the next target for success. So, success is not final. A new record sets a new target to break it and pushes for a new achievement. This points to why failure is not fatal if we have courage to continue and try again.

Even so, we regularly read about someone in some area who has reached what appears to be the pinnacle of success and yet it doesn’t seem to satisfy them in whatever they achieved. They purchase more, work longer, push harder and it seems like it is never enough to bring that illusive satisfaction they hoped for.

Are we addicted to the pursuit of success?

Success does not mean we flourish. Maybe chasing after it is not the right target. Could it be that flourishing is the better choice?  Should our decisions and choices be more wholistic versus measuring ourselves by one single criteria?

“Decision making is a powerful force in our lives. Our decisions quite literally shape our lives. We make our future with our choices.” 

Matthew Kelly

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But changing our perspective on success isn’t looking at happiness as the better choice. Happiness is grand but it comes and goes and is dependent on too many variables to be satisfying for any great length of time.

What if we were to make decisions and choices that would result in our lives flourishing? What would that look like? 

Flourishing means developing in a healthy and vigorous way. We can see examples in places like our gardens and in watching children who thrive. And guess what? When we flourish, our lives have meaning and ultimately result in success versus starting with success as the primary goal. Success is the byproduct of a life that is flourishing and filled with meaning. Without that, the number of medals and trophies, degrees, and bank accounts never are enough to satisfy our souls. Plus, flourishing has a ripple effect.

“Determining what will cause society to flourish begins with what causes an individual human being to flourish.” 

Matthew Kelly

Perhaps our failure when we look at the ills in society can be better diagnosed by starting at that point. It isn’t about more programs or policies which someone or some entity designs for us. It begins with giving space to the quest for what provides meaning for our life and the open doors to pursue those things. Then we can get off the merry-go-round of simply working hard for some definition of success or progress that we think matters or society sets for us.  Then we discover we can more likely reach those things as a byproduct of flourishing.

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If this is true then the words of Laurens van der Post are sound wisdom:

“There is ultimately only one thing that makes humanity deeply and profoundly bitter, and that is to have thrust upon them a life without meaning. There is nothing wrong in searching for happiness. But of far more comfort to the soul is something greater than happiness or unhappiness, and that is meaning. Because meaning transfigures all. Once what you are doing has meaning for you, it is irrelevant whether you’re happy or unhappy. You are content.”

Laurens van der Post

This moment is the perfect time to reflect on what has meaning for you and whether or not you are doing it so your life can flourish and you can know contentment.

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