From struggle ensues significance and success
“For success, like happiness, cannot be pursued; it must ensue, and it only does so as the
unintended side-effect of one’s personal dedication to a cause greater than oneself or
as the by-product of one’s surrender to a person other than oneself.” —Victor Frankl
These words pinned by Victor Frankl, an Austrian Holocaust survivor, author and so
much more are powerful and saturated with meaning. At first glance, this is an odd quote
coming from a foster kid who was seemingly drunk with the pursuit of success. In my
20s and early 30s, I was always in school and working full time demanding jobs in
leadership roles. To the worldly untrained eye, I was in pursuit of success and all of
these years later after I have achieved some modicum of professional respect, how dare I
say to not pursue it—success. To suggest that there is a path to success without pursuing
it seems like pie in the sky idealism and is short of disingenuous—right? Not so fast.
I have often said to my kids (I have two), don’t pursue profits, pursue purpose and the
financials will work out. I have said to them to pursue their passion and only do work
where they can find meaning. This advice is what I adhered to as I studied in an area that
most definitely believed had no material prospects for financial success. By all accounts,
I would struggle. That was just fine with me, financial success has never been the goal.
What defined my work and drive early in life were the struggles that I saw my mom go
through. In her care, we never had enough, whether it was food or shelter. In her care, we
were never exposed enough to positive images and experiences. In her care, financial
fragility is what we knew. I remember when college became within reach; I was terrified
about failing because I didn’t want to disappoint the people who believed that I could do
it. I was terrified because part of what drove my desire to excel was to show a different
path to my siblings. Success has never been my end goal but respectability in Gods eyes
has. If God placed any talent in me as I had grown to believe, what a disappointment I
would be on Heaven’s stage, if I didn’t try to maximize it. God never said to me, pursue
social work. God said find meaning in the work. I believed that as I found meaning, I
could impress upon other people who too were dealt a crap hand, that more things were
possible with our lives.
At what point in life is it appropriate to acknowledge that you have been successful even
if the race isn’t over? I don’t know but if I have been successful it is not because I have
focused on it. I have focused on stretching myself, not being lukewarm about life and
surrendering to the cause of uplift. Uplift is about channeling energy into those things
that create value. It creates value to help people place in its proper context the meaning of
their struggle and how from struggle ensues significance and success by any standard.