This question seems to come up again and again. Not always stated in the same way, it can manifest itself as “Why am I still at this job I hate?” or “Why am I not happy?” or in the ultimate question, “What is my purpose?” Just as there are a wide variety of ways to ask the question, there exists a wide variety of answers. Some will tell you to chase money and power while others will tell you to reject all material possessions. Some will tell you to spend your life traveling while others will tell you to live in one city and call it home. There doesn’t appear to be a right answer, at least not one that fits every person.
While there may not be a perfect answer, the passage below does a superb job of focusing on the most important areas and leaving out the trivial details. The author has managed to identify what is truly significant. Here is What Will Matter by Michael Josephson.
Ready or not, someday it will all come to an end. There will be no more sunrises, no minutes, hours or days. All the things you collected, whether treasured or forgotten, will pass to someone else. Your wealth, fame and temporal power will shrivel to irrelevance. It will not matter what you owned or what you were owed. Your grudges, resentments, frustrations and jealousies will finally disappear. So too, your hopes, ambitions, plans and to-do lists will expire. The wins and losses that once seemed so important will fade away. It won’t matter where you came from or what side of the tracks you lived on at the end. It won’t matter whether you were beautiful or brilliant. Even your gender and skin color will be irrelevant.
So what will matter? How will the value of your days be measured?
What will matter is not what you bought but what you built, not what you got but what you gave. What will matter is not your success but your significance. What will matter is not what you learned but what you taught. What will matter is every act of integrity, compassion, courage, or sacrifice that enriched, empowered or encouraged others to emulate your example. What will matter is not your competence but your character.
What will matter is not how many people you knew, but how many will feel a lasting loss when you’re gone. What will matter is not your memories but the memories that live in those who loved you. What will matter is how long you will be remembered, by whom and for what. Living a life that matters doesn’t happen by accident. It’s not a matter of circumstance but of choice. Choose to live a life that matters.
