Isn’t There More To Life Than Just Material Wealth?
Sound life lessons from Nick Vujicic
Do you sometimes find yourself complaining for the most trivial of things that it often leaves you ashamed due to its insignificance after a day’s worth of reflection? What about those times when we find ourselves appreciating what we have after we have lost the very things we often take for granted?
A case in point is when our relationship with people (family and friends) who matter in life suffers when we invest too much time at work. Before you have a chance to make up for lost time, a loved one passes on in life, or it’s too late to salvage a broken marriage or severed friendship.
What’s ‘success’ to you?
Doubling up as a delegate and a member of the media, I recently attended a two-day event organised by Success Resources to hear some of the world’s most renowned speakers and successful Malaysian entrepreneurs.
Many shared their life stories of perseverance and overcoming adversity to achieve their success in business and personal wealth. Essentially, how you define success now helps to shape your life’s perspective where you can decide how you want to take action to steer your own future and destiny.
Among the line-up of speakers, the one who stood out is none other than Nick Vujicic, who is recognised all around the globe as someone who overcame his physical lack (born without arms and legs) to bring an abundance of hope and demonstrate overflowing love wherever he goes.
Ask yourself today: What is ‘success’ to you, and how are you measuring it?
“Success is not always about ‘having’, it’s about ‘being’.” – Vujicic
Photo above is courtesy of Success Resources.
Net worth vs self-worth
While most of the speakers had something to share about increasing your net worth and on ways to achieve financial freedom, Vujicic went back to the most fundamental building block of our human value – self-worth.
When we think and act like we are more superior and better than others, many social problems such as human trafficking and bullying start to fester. In fact, we see much of it happening today in various parts of the world, i.e. oppression of human lives, all in the name of ethnicity, religion, social and financial standing.
Instead of dividing ourselves in what makes us different, we must start looking at the bigger picture of humanity on what makes us similar. Once we get our little stubborn heads around this common understanding, we can then work together in unity to achieve something good.
“Your value as a person is not determined by what people think of you. Rich or poor, able or disabled, famous or not famous, you are still you.” – Vujicic
Give your broken pieces a second chance
It’s true that we live in a fallen world full of brokenness and strife. Still, life can be beautiful in the littlest of ways when we learn to give of ourselves.
Vujicic shared on how he didn’t give up calling 52 different schools in Australia when he was just starting out to become a speaker as a teenager. No doubt he was rejected (and dejected) many times, but he pressed on until the 53rd school responded with a ‘yes’. From that one school, his extraordinary story of sheer grit spilled over to other schools. The rest, they say, is history.
Like bottles of perfume with sweet fragrance, all of us carry with us our own life stories. It is from a broken bottle of perfume that the sweet fragrance can permeate the whole air. Likewise, looking beyond our own brokenness, failures and imperfections, we can turn these unpleasant life experiences into blessings for others. All we need to do is to allow ourselves to be vulnerable and be a vessel of hope.
“Even if you don’t get your miracle, you can still be a miracle to someone else.” – Vujicic
Living in faith and hope
Looking at how Vujicic exuberates a sense of joy and hope despite his life’s circumstances, you know he is the real deal. Not by his own strength, but anchored on something deep and unshakeable. He credits this to his strong faith and belief in God.
Resilience: The Science of Mastering Life’s Greatest Challenges, a book by Steven Southwick and Dennis Charney, describes how spiritual strength plays a key role in helping people overcome great adversity through spirituality or religion that help them bounce back from setbacks.
Yes, I agree that the spiritual side of things is personal to everyone. Yet, the common factor is that our spirituality helps us make sense of who we are and what our purpose for living is. It keeps us resilient through tough times because we have hope that there is more to life than beyond what our eyes can see. It keeps us sound and grounded on noble values such as humility, integrity, and perhaps, more importantly, our compassion and love to others.
“My journey in faith has strengthened me throughout the day.” – Vujicic
Food for thought
Where are you in your life’s journey? Have you found your true self? Are you being the best version of yourself, functioning at your fullest potential? Or, are you still trying to make sense of the things that are happening around you?
If you are already doing something impactful and meaningful for others, keep going! Continue to sow seeds of compassion because the world desperately needs them. Let faith and hope continue to fuel you in the things that you do.
Take heart if you are still searching. Take one day at a time and see how you can encourage and help others. Don’t give up on yourself, but hang on tightly to hope because your story of triumph is just about to begin…
Vujicic’s 8 nuggets of wisdom
- You don’t know what you can achieve until you give it a try.
- When you fail, try again.
- Turn your obstacles into opportunities.
- Dream big.
- Dream bigger.
- Never give up on yourself.
- Have faith.
- Be thankful.
Read also: Redefining The Meaning Of Success With Nick Vujicic
Were you there at the Success 2016 event where Vujicic spoke? To share some of your own poignant stories with us, or other key takeaways from Vujicic, email us at editor@leaderonomics.com. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer or the people quoted.
To engage with Leaderonomics in Character-wise Leadership training where you learn how to revitalise your leadership potential for positive change, contact us at training@leaderonomics.com. For more Thought Of The Week articles, click here.
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