Living a life of significance doesn’t mean making drastic changes overnight. It simply means choosing, every day, to live with a purpose beyond yourself.

✅ Define what significance means to you. What impact do you want to have?
✅ Look for ways to add significance to everyday activities. Even the smallest actions can become opportunities to serve.
✅ Shift your mindset from “What can I gain?” to “What can I give?”
✅ Make your time count. Don’t just manage your schedule—use it to make a difference.

At the end of your life, success will fade. But a life of significance—a life that impacts others—will leave a lasting legacy.

So how will you live today? Will you settle for success, or will you pursue something greater?

The choice is yours. Let’s be intentional. Let’s live for significance.

I want to talk to you today about building a life of significance. What does that actually mean? What comes to your mind when you think of building a life of significance?

Is it having career success? Is it achieving your goals or your dreams? Is it making a huge impact on others?

How you think about this will truly affect how you spend your time and your energy. 

I believe every man wants their life to matter. They want to feel like their life was significant. They want to know that the world would miss them if they weren’t here.

So if you want your life to matter, you must define what actually make it matter? 

If subconsciously, you think that your life only matters if you have career success, then that is most likely what you are going to focus on. If you think it only matters if you are liked, then you are going to spend your time and energy doing things to make people like you…even if you aren’t being true to yourself or what you value.

It is so easy as a man to try to find your validation in success, in how people view you, how strong you are, fit you are, wealthy you are…and so on and so on. 

If you don’t define what “significance” means to you, it will be easy to chase things that you think will bring you the validation you seek.

When significance is all about yourself, you are going to spend your time only working on the things that help you. 

I have been thinking about this a lot lately because I have realized how easily I fall into a day that is all about myself…even if it is totally unintentional or subconscious. 

Just think about some of your past few days. Think about how you spent your time. Think about what you were focused on. Think back to your mindset in the last couple of days and the actions that you took.

When I did this exercise, I realized so much of my day was spent completely self-focused…and it’s not my intention…but it’s just the reality of most days if you are not intentional. 

I got up, went to the gym, then went to work all day. Spent some time running some errands and then practiced drums. 

None of these things are bad, but they can all be self-focused activities if you are not intentional. But they can all be activities where you impact others if you are intentional about it. These are activities I do almost every day, so how do I guard myself from only thinking about myself all day long? Or making sure I’m not doing them just to serve myself?

I think there is a big difference between significance and success.

Success is usually self-serving. It’s self-focused. It’s all about you.

Significance is about others. 

I believe a life that truly matters is a life of significance…it’s a life that impacts others. It’s a life that is others focused instead of self-focused.

You could be the most successful person in the world, but if everything ends and disappears when you are no longer here, then did it truly matter?

You could have all the success in the world, but if you have no meaningful relationships or don’t make other’s lives better, is it truly a successful life?

I truly think that a life that is spent impacting others is the best life. That is the life that Jesus lived. Everything he did was done for others. The bible says he came to serve and not to be served. That he came to seek and save the lost. 

And ultimately he gave his life for us on the cross. His entire life was built on significance and not just success.

When I say the word “significance” to people sometimes, it can be easy to feel like you have to do something huge to live a life of significance. That you have to be the one on the stage speaking, or you have to be the leader, or the one to start a huge organization. 

But living a life of significance truly just means living to make an impact in others lives instead of just your own.

John Maxwell has a great definition of significance. He says you live a life of significance when you “Make a difference with others, wherever you are, with whatever you have, day by day.” - John Maxwell

I love that. You just seek to make a difference with others wherever you are with whatever you have. It’s that simple. 

You don’t have to do anything crazy big. You just have to start living each day for others instead of yourself. 

People usually wake up each day driving by 1 of 3 things.

1. Success
2. Survival
3. Significance

Success again is just focusing on yourself and your own personal gain

Survival is where you wake up each day just trying to get through the day

Significance is where you wake up each day looking for opportunities to love, serve, and impact others. 

How do you typically wake up each morning? What typically drives you each day?

I think intentionality to the highest degree is about intentionally living for others. It would be a huge miss to be highly intentional about every minute of your time but to have all that time be completely self-centered instead of others focused. 

It would be a huge miss to make your intentions all about what you can gain instead of what you can give.

Significance is always about others, and serving them intentionally. 

When you change your thinking from “What am I going to receive?” to “What am I going to give?” your entire life begins to turn around

So today, how can you put more significance in your story? How can you start living for others more in your day to day life?

Here are 5 key differences between success and significance. As I go through these, try to think through your past few days and see where you have fallen more often.

Success Focuses on Self. Significance Focuses on Others

At the end of the day, can you truly look back and say that your day was spent more on behalf of others than yourself?

One of the best ways to do this is to define how you can add significance to your every day tasks. 

Most of us can’t spend each day serving at a homeless shelter or out on the mission field. So how can you add significance to your everyday tasks?

How do you make work more about others? Even when you are answering emails or making sales calls, how can you shift your focus from yourself to others?

I was talking with a client the other day about this, and we went through all of his major every day activities and defined how he could bring more significance into those activities and it was a very powerful exercise.

When he went to make sales calls, it was no longer, “How can I make as much money as possible?” It was instead, “How can I encourage this person right now and make their day better?” How can I make sure they feel valued? How can I serve them the best I possibly can?

Taking that kind of approach into your every day activities will ensure you are living for significance over success.

The next is that success is focused on material things. Significance is focused on eternal things.

Which one of those two things gets more of your attention? Are you more concerned with your material possessions? Or are you more concerned with building God’s Kingdom?

We know as believers that we are suppposed to be about God’s kingdom more than our own, but let me ask you, is that a reality in your life? If I took a look at your schedule and your finances, would it show me that you are about God’s kingdom? 

This was one I really had to ask myself. I thought I was all about God’s kingdom until I really looked at where my time and attention was going and ultimately that told a different story. Follow your time, attention, and finances and you will usually get a clearer picture of what is actually important to you. 

Number 3, Success is constantly looking for recognition. Significance seeks to recognize others. 

When you walk into a room, are you more focused on how others are going to perceive you? Or are you focused on loving other people?

When you walk into a room do you announce “Here I am?” or do you say “There you are!” 

When your life is built on significance, you will constantly be looking for ways to encourage others and build them up instead of fishing for compliments for yourself.

Always seek to be the most “interested” person in the room instead of the most “interesting” 

Live with curiosity. Ask people questions about their life before you start talking about your life. 

Number 4, a life that’s just focused on success lives with a scarcity mindset. A life focused on significance lives with an abundance mindset. 

When you have a scarcity mindset, you are scared to share your knowledge or experience with others because you are afraid they might surpass you or that you might not look as good. 

An abundance mindset always takes that approach that there is plenty to go around for everyone. That just because you help someone else be successful that it doesn’t minimize you. 

I want to grow so that I can help grow others. Part of the motivation to grow and get better and better in your life should be so that you can help others grow and get better. 

Seek to always be a river rather than a reservoir. What you gain should be passed right on to others instead of just kept for yourself.

And the last is that success just seeks to make yourself famous. Significance seeks to make God famous. 

Everything that you have is from God. The breath in your lungs. The healthy body you have. The opportunities you have…it is all because of God. 

Are you looking to take all of the credit, or are you seeking to give the credit back to God?

I love the mindset that John the Baptist lived with. His mission was to simply prepare the way for Jesus.

There were multiple times where people tried to elevate him or give him all the credit and he constantly pointed people to jesus. He knew that’s what he existed to do.

He said in John 3:30 “He must become greater, and I must become less.” 

As a follower of Christ, this has to be your significance mindset. We must take the posture that he must become greater and I must become less. 

If you are too focused on getting all of the credit and the praise, then you might be living more for success than significance.

Let’s be men that prepare the way for the Lord and give him the credit because he is worthy of it. He is the reason why we are alive. He is why we have purpose. 

So how can you put more significance in your life today? How can you make your life more about bringing glory to God? How can you make you every day life more about others than yourself.

True intentional living is about living for significance over success. 

I would encourage you to think about that today. Think through the activities that you do on a consistent basis and think about ways that you can make them more about others and less about yourself. 

Significance again is making a difference wherever you are with whatever you have day by day.

Thanks for joining me today! I hope today was helpful and encouraging. Please share this with someone else that you think might benefit from it. 

I’m grateful for you. Now Go live a life you are proud of by living intentionally.