DECIDE WHAT YOU WANT TO ACHIEVE?

Will consistently reaching new accomplishments fulfill you?
Maybe it will, maybe it won’t. Decide whether you’re chasing accomplishment or fulfillment and, make the wise decision.

Because their lives seem to be more exciting, we assume famous people have achieved fulfillment.

Are they joyous when they achieve success. Maybe they are, maybe they aren’t.

Anthony Bourdain and Kate Spade were both rich and famous but, they were fatally suicidal. I don’t know if either of them defined success for themselves but, I know that recognition and achievement aren’t synonymous to fulfillment. They lacked fulfillment.

CHIPS ARE A SNACK: YOU NEED SOUL-FOOD

Michael Jordan earned all of the NBA’s most prestigious accolades. Despite all his accomplishments, he’s known for a crying face meme and a bitter tirade of an acceptance speech that revealed an emptiness in his soul. He turned the celebration of all his greatest accomplishments into proof of the gaping voids in his soul that not even his wealth could fill.

Kevin Durant lead a great OKC Thunder team that had the champion Golden State Warriors down 3-1 and blew the series lead in the 2017 Western Conference Finals.

The following season Kevin Durant, arguably the best pure scorer basketball has ever seen, joined that same Warriors squad that also set the record for most wins in a regular season. Some called it the weakest decision a superstar ever made. It left little doubt that Durant and his new teammates would be champions in 2018.

The following season after a practice in March Durant professed that “After winning that championship, I learned that much hadn’t changed. I thought it would fill a certain . It didn’t. That’s when I realized…that the only thing that matters is this game and how much work you put into it. Everything else, …perception, isn’t important. What people say, how they view you, it’s not important.”

It’s mind-blowing that someone who has more money than he hoped for and changed the lives of his whole family from playing basketball would be unfulfilled after winning a championship. Durant’s words on that day remind me of an important lesson. Fulfillment is not inherently tied to accomplishment. Accomplishment is the unhealthy snack that leaves you craving more and. Fulfillment satisfies your soul.

May Your Cup Spill into the Cup of Others

However, people with less wealth and fame have found fulfillment by focusing on purposeful impact. Fulfillment is the warm feeling from better a life. Fulfillment doesn’t require recognition. It requires only that you to decide what impact you want to have and that you work to achieve it.

What will you focus on, accomplishment or fulfillment? Only one will inherently fill your cup and the cup of others.