What does give your life real meaning?

Maybe you’ve asked yourself this same question.

I’m convinced those relationships, things and situations which gives meaning to your life ultimately comes down to your doing things which positively impact the lives of others. Something you do that inspires another person to trust their own potential. Rise above their environment. Become more than they once believed was possible. To not give up on their dreams.

I was recently reminded of how what we do can have an important affect on someone else’s life. It happened when I ran across a file I had from 26 years ago. You see, I had self-published a book. A book that sold 33,000 copies and Amway of Australia, called “the bible of multi-level-marketing”.

It was titled “Multi-Level Mastery” and basically contained what I had learned from the time I was still in college at the Indiana University School of Music and started a part-time income generating business. Which within two years had netted me 5 new cars and a new house! It was a book on how to build a multi-level marketing business using the universal principles of success. Believe it or not, at that point in time, the book was the first of it’s kind.

The file

Inside the file were letters from people who had read the book. Lot’s of “thank you, it helped me understand what to do” kinds of letters …and then there were a few “what you said changed my life” letters. The point is, I was 31 years old when I wrote the book. I put forth what I believed in my heart was a way to conduct a business and live your life that would result in success …and it made a difference in people’s lives.

At the time I made a lot of money. Bought my first Mercedes and so on.

That car now sits in a field (in Montana) slowly rusting away. All the money I made from the book was spent decades ago. Yet here were testimonials, still hanging around in a file. The file was full of real abundance that I didn’t fully appreciate as a young man. What I didn’t realize was that the trophies (car, money, stuff) was a by-product of doing something which made a difference in the lives of other people.

I was able to take some life and business lessons and turn them into something that benefited others… I was too immature to fully appreciate that the real purpose of the undertaking was to pass on knowledge. Make someone’s life a little easier. To be a source of inspiration.

26 years later …I get it.

I’ve lived a life with many adventures and operated several businesses. Sure I’ve won advertising awards, achieved national recognition and yes made money …but nothing has made me feel more gratitude for time well spent than that old file full of letters.

Proof that for at least a few moments in my life, what I had done with my time 26 years ago had real meaning.

-Bob Baran