Latest / Homeschool Insights - Biblical Home Education Inspiration in Under 10 Minutes! / Success Shouldn't be the Goal - Jonathan Brush
Transcript
- speaker-0: absolutely delighted for you to be successful. I'm not against anybody being successful. The problem, as I see it, is that our society at large and our culture subconsciously defines success as some measure of fame, fortune, and power. speaker-1: Well, I am excited for this conversation because I think that this pressure towards success runs so much deeper than so many of us understand and realize, especially when we're trying to be faithful and raise kids and disciple them and prepare them for adulthood. So let's begin with the big picture. So you make an important distinction between success and thriving in the work that you do. So, how do you define the difference? And what does this distinction ⁓ why does it matter so much? speaker-0: Well, I always say I'm not a big fan of success. And then I qualify, ⁓ I ⁓ go back and sort of, you know, say, let me let me think about this for a little bit and maybe explain it to you. I'm absolutely delighted for you to be successful. I'm not against anybody being successful. The problem, as I see it, is that our society at large and our culture subconsciously ⁓ defines success as some measure of fame, fortune, and power. And our social media world not only magnifies that, it makes it look like it's very accessible. And so the problem now is that we have young people, and we talked about this in the last episode, you know, that that want to do their per find their purpose and want to make a difference in the world. And the world is saying, hey, ⁓ you need to be successful. And so that young person is going, okay, I need some level of fame, fortune, and power so I can change the world, live up my purpose and make a difference. And they're thinking about this for all the right reasons. And then there's this reality. And I ask people often in live audiences, I say, how many of you know somebody really famous, really rich, really powerful? And I actually haven't gotten any hands to go up yet, right? As of the the illustration there, the point is that being extremely rich, famous, or powerful is an anomaly. And so it's interesting to us because it's rare. And so consequently, what happens is we send kids in the world with all this optimism. I'm gonna change the world, I'm gonna make a difference, and then I'm gonna be successful. And then they find out that that level of fame, fortune, and power that really seems like it moves the needle is elusive or impossible. And so that optimism fades to cynicism. The cynicism often devolves down into bitterness and and sometimes the bitterness turns into despair. And we have young people kind of checking out and they're never really they're not even sh they couldn't even articulate why it happened. They just know that, like, yeah, I was really excited and it turned out it didn't work the way I thought it did. And and so the first thing I want to say is like, you know, I'm not against anybody becoming rich, famous, or powerful. What I'm concerned about is I'm concerned about people who think that that's the way to change the world. Because even if they then achieve it, they're gonna find out that the the come to an empty place. You know, that they don't understand what to do with it. And so I think we need a a a new kind of measuring stick for what it means to live a good life. ⁓ it's not that I want people to not be successful. I want them to understand maybe what true success or the right kind of success looks like. ⁓ speaker-1: Absolutely. It's kind of like how you can say, like, I like I feel rich because I have amazing relationships, you know, and just, you know, it's it's all on how we define it. And actually when you're talking, and one thing that hit me is that ⁓ you know, I've done a lot of like the deeper work and figuring out why I am and what I think and all of that kind of stuff ⁓ through different seasons that I've gone through. And one thing I remember so clearly when I was in high school, it was that when I would have, you know, just different bullying situations or just people would hurt me. I remember thinking, ⁓ I'll show them. I'm gonna be famous someday and they're gonna feel really bad that they treated me this way. But it was this weird thing. And I remember our teaching speaker-0: There's a country song by Toby Keith about that. Yeah. Is there? How do you like me now? That's right. speaker-1: That's right. ⁓ my goodness. See, he he felt my pain. speaker-0: Yeah. speaker-1: Right. Well, and I was gonna say 'cause that's what I find that when I share that with these groups that I ⁓ that I run, that so often people are like, Yes, I thought the same thing. Because there is something like we feel like we will heal and, you know, get over and life will be easier if we just achieve those things that you mentioned. And it's it's yeah, it's so easy. speaker-0: It's particularly susceptible for homeschool families. Cause it's like, you know, I used to do a lot speaking to audiences and I say, you know, at some level, you really want your kid to not only get into college, you want to get into the elite college with a full scholarship so that you can, in the most Christian way possible, stick it in the eye of all those people that for years have like, You're gonna do what? You're gonna do really you're gonna do high school and what about prom? And like, you know, I like asking all questions. It's like at some level, I would like some sort of standard achievement that everybody recognizes to be like, Hey, look, we're fine and and and take that and ⁓ Did I hear your kid didn't get it too? I mean, like you you you're thinking that in the back of your head, right? I mean, there's there's there's some level of nastiness there that we don't really want to admit to, but at some level we're kind of thinking about. And yeah, it comes into this like, well, i if if my child is rich, famous, or powerful, and the child thinks the same thing, that's recognizable. ⁓ it's also an anomaly, but it is recognizable. And again, I'm not saying that I don't want your children to be rich, famous, or powerful. It's just that if they become rich, famous, or powerful, I'd like them to know why. And I'd like them to be equipped for that when they go down. speaker-1: This episode of Homeschool Insights is brought to you by Liberty HealthShare. Choosing to homeschool is about making intentional decisions for your family. Liberty HealthShare is another way families across the country are choosing a different path, one that offers a community-centered approach to health care cost sharing that can help you keep more of your hard-earned dollars while getting the medical care your family needs. Learn more at LibertyHealthShare.org. That's LibertyHealthShare.org.