Tweet

Success Really Isn’t About Money…

Written by: Jim Bouchard

Article Overview: This morning I had a meeting with several professional Scouts. These people make their livings serving the Boy Scouts of America. They are not likely to become wealthy in the conventional sense. Their jobs involve long hours and they all serve well above and beyond the normal parameters of their job descriptions...

Success Really Isn’t About Money…

This morning I had a meeting with several professional Scouts. These people make their livings serving the Boy Scouts of America. They are not likely to become wealthy in the conventional sense. Their jobs involve long hours and they all serve well above and beyond the normal parameters of their job descriptions.

Steve Saucier is the District Executive, a professional position. I met Steve when he recruited me to serve as the District Chairman, a volunteer position. From our very first meeting I knew I was involved with something special. In my youth I was a Scout who was interested more in camping than merit badges; Steve had his work cut out for him bringing me up-to-date on today’s version of the Scouts.

He talked about how proud he was to be involved in Scouting. He talked about the difference Scouting makes in the lives of young people. He talked about how important it is to teach and preserve the core values of Scouting and how these values would help shape the future. He talked about the high-quality of the people involved in Scouting, both professional and volunteer.

He clearly described the current state of the District, his goals for the future and his success so far in reaching past goals. He said his primary goal was that when he moved on to another position, he would leave the District just a little better than he found it.

He did not talk about money.

Is Steve a success story? I don’t know exactly how much Steve makes. I do know that given his credentials he could make a lot more money in private industry. Steve and his colleagues measure their success by the power they’re sharing in the lives of young people.

There’s nothing wrong with using money as one measurement of success; in certain endeavors that’s perfectly appropriate. But how do you quantify changing a generation of young people? The opportunity Steve and his colleagues provide for young people may play a part in the development of many future leaders, some of them are likely to shape the world. Any attempt to assign a dollar value to that work makes no sense.

Money is certainly easy to measure and quantify. Your impact in the lives of others may never be fully appreciated, at least not in your life time. When you measure success in emotional and spiritual terms, you’ve got to rely on what many people would consider “intangible” areas.

In reality, what is more tangible? A huge amount of material resources can evaporate in an instant, and sometimes through no fault of your own. The part you play in the life of someone else may not be as easy to measure, you may have to rely on feeling, but that resource can never be diminished. The power generated in service of others only increases with time.

Ultimately, your success is entirely up to you. Not only in the doing, but it’s also up to you to declare when and how any success is realized. You shape your goals, and it’s up to you to declare victory. The more you can shape goals where success is realized, the greater your feeling of satisfaction, self-worth and independence. These feelings are, in and of themselves, real and lasting measurements of success!

It is a privilege to be working with people who measure their success completely by the potential impact they have in the lives of our future generations; an impact they may never be able to fully measure. Our culture is struggling to regain some sense of core values. In this enterprise, Steve and the Boy Scouts are examples of true success.

Related Articles
  Communication Skills - What we need to be Aware of.
  Find out how to Communicate Effectivly
  Spam: You probably hate it but can you define it?
  What are the 3 biggest challenges faced by supply chain/purchasing professionals today? (Survey Result 15)
  Article #14 Want To End Your Money Worries Forever?

Article Tags: boy scouts of america, colleagues, conventional sense, core values, credentials, current state, district chairman, district executive, endeavors, first meeting, job descriptions, measurement, merit badges, parameters, private industry, professional position, professional scouts, scout, success story, volunteer position



Related Forum Posts
Re: What or Who Sparks Your Business Interest - It's interesting to see what the different motivations are by Age Category. I've noticed this around me: 20 to 29yr olds: Motivator: Money 30 to 39yr olds: Motivator: Success/Ambition 40 to 49yr olds: Motivator: Family comes first 50 to 59yr olds: Motivator: Leaving a legacy i've only gone that far in my analysis. Of course this is a braid generalization but I find that it helps direct my marketing to individuals in different age brackets. The product/service can be the same but the Marketing message (Benefit Statement) to a 20 year will revolve around "Money" vs. a 30-something would be on their "Self Image"
Re: Which would you start: a Blog or Online Community? - It is a difficult decision to make. Lets start it this way - What are you more interested in? Money? or Friends? or Both? If its purely Money, then Blog might be an appropriate answer. But consider this - It will be people (visitors) that will bring traffic to your blog and then Money will follow. This will be possible after a time and during this time it will be your friends who will be the starters. If you are looking for friends only, then its true that not many will be interested in knowing how you have beaten them in the game or the other way round. So it will be preferable to have a Forum where they can share ideas with you and others. But you can share your insider knowledge with them and invite comments from your Blog. You can also put up information on what others (including your friends) don't know about Tennis. The blog you create can provide News, Inside Information and also Techniques that can be used by the new entrants in the world of Tennis.
Making Money in 2011 - Hello forum members! As we draw closer to the new year I thought it would be appropriate to change the title of our forum category "Making Money in 2010" to "Making Money in 2011" - I'm looking forward to some interesting discussions and wish everyone a prosperous New Year!
QuickBooks vs. Microsoft Money vs....? - I have always used Microsoft Money to run my business - accounting, invoicing, etc. It came with my computer when I got it and integrated well with my online banking system so everything is a breeze. It only takes 30-60 minutes every quarter to do the bookkeeping (keep in mind that I have a very simple business - no inventory, very little invoicing, I do all my payments by credit card, etc). Is QuickBooks or Money the best accounting tool for small business owners? Or is there something even better?
Re: THE SECRET TO SUCCESS IS ALL IN YOUR HEAD...RIGHT NOW!!! - Success = Thinking (Head) + Heart (Feeling / Interest) + Hand (doing/ action). Success - H3 Robert


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Fear Factors in Small Business: Sales & Marketing

10 Steps to Excelling at Franchise Sales

The Substance Abusing Employee

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.