Achievement, success, a legacy. Everyone is finding a way to arrive at these three things. LinkedIn connects people through millions of messages, but I imagine that if you could eavesdrop on them all at once, you’d find the same thread. Achievement means attaining a goal that means something to you personally. Success means finding fulfillment in your goal. A legacy means leaving behind something that is valued and remembered.
Yet as much as the social network facilitates achievement, success, and a legacy, actually reaching them has become confusing. Thirty years ago, you and I would have seen a narrow, rather fixed path. Our lives were more local and not global. We knew about economic events far away, but they didn’t impact us personally. The people we knew were almost surely born and raised in the same country as we were.
Now the path has become much broader and walls have crashed down. You and I can live a life with much wider cope. The potential for expanded achievement, success, and a legacy are greater than ever. To survive in an expanded world, however, runs headlong into some things that we cherish and that are scary to let go of: familiar surroundings, a feeling of belonging, the security of the group, and the comfort of conformity.
As LinkedIn launches a new format for exchanging inspiration and influence between its members, I want to dedicate my part to this confusing picture of expanded promise. The title of this post is a teaser for the posts to come. What is the best thing you can create in life?
It’s not achievement, success, or a legacy. It’s a clear path to reach those things, and that path is available only by a conscious lifestyle. Expanding your awareness is the best thing you can create in life, because it serves as the foundation for meaning, purpose, inspiration, love, and personal evolution. Please stay tuned. This is the theme I will address twice a week. Let’s travel the path together.
Deepak Chopra MD, FACP, is the author of more than 65 books including numerous New York Times bestsellers. His latest novel, God: A Story of Revelation (HarperOne) released on September 25, 2012). www.deepakchopra.com