Back in 1967, Time magazine quoted the celebrity artist Andy Warhol as saying that one day, “everyone will be famous for 15 minutes.” With the rise of the internet and social media, this prediction seems plausible. But is it really? The more likely scenario is that very few people will ever be famous for even one minute, much less fifteen.
Most of us will live our entire lives without going down in history for any particular reason. Most people in the world will not know us personally or even know our name. For much of human history, most people were unknown outside their small community—known only to immediate family, a few neighbors, and key people in their town. Only the rarest of individuals were known by the masses at all.
So what about this? Are we okay with living our entire lives without being known in any significant sense beyond a few dozen people? Is it a kind of failure if we’re never famous, even for 15 minutes? Shouldn’t we go down in history?
The short answer is no. But if we’re going to make peace with this reality, we need to clear up some confusion about what really matters.
Worth, fame, and significance are three different things.
It’s easy to confuse these three concepts. But they’re not the same thing.
Worth refers to something that has monetary or material value. A pound of gold has greater monetary value than a pound of sand. Fame refers to being widely known. Significance refers to meaningful impact—the ability to change someone’s life or perspective.
These three concepts are mostly independent of each other. For example, I have some old photographs that have no monetary worth, yet they’re deeply significant to me because of the special memories they hold. On the other hand, some of the most famous people in the world—household names—are known for little more than being famous. They are not particularly significant in any meaningful way.
Consider Charles Babbage, who designed the first mechanical calculator and paved the way for modern computers. He was virtually unknown during his lifetime, yet enormously significant historically.
Vincent Van Gogh sold only one painting while alive, yet became one of the most celebrated painters in history. Both of these men illustrate that significance and fame are not the same thing.
The distinction between fame and significance has profound implications. If we believe that significance requires fame or that a person’s material worth determines their significance, we’re in for a rough and probably disappointing ride through life. But if we understand these as separate dimensions, new possibilities open up for us.
Fame is fleeting, but significance can be developed.
Jimmy Durante captured something true in the closing song of “Sleepless in Seattle.” In “Make Someone Happy,” he says, “Fame, if you win it, comes and goes in a minute.” Even the few fortunate enough to achieve fame rarely hold on to it for very long.
But it’s worth remembering that “fame is about breadth, while significance is about depth.” Fame means being widely known. Significance means being meaningful to those you touch. This distinction is so important because significance is far easier to achieve than fame. And it’s actually more valuable.
It also means that while very few will ever be famous, nearly anyone can be significant.
Why significance is within our grasp.
Our significance grows through our influence, and influence is within reach of almost everyone. Some people influence thousands, millions, or even tens of millions. But we don’t need to reach huge numbers to be significant. The good news is that we can be deeply significant by influencing just a handful of people. Or even one.
In the essay entitled “The Star Thrower,” Loren Eiseley captured this idea perfectly.
One day, a man was walking along the beach after a storm. Thousands of starfish had been stranded on the sand—doomed to die in the sun. In the distance, he noticed a young boy picking up starfish and gently tossing them back into the ocean.
When he reached the boy, the man said, “Son, there are thousands of starfish here, surely you can’t think you’ll make any difference.”
The boy listened politely to the man, then bent down and picked up another starfish. Pausing for a moment, as he threw it into the waves, he said, “It makes a difference to this one.”
And so it is with people. Significance is also measured by its impact on the few, not just by its impact on the masses. A teacher influences their students. A coach influences their players. A parent influences their children. Something can be said to a person that literally changes their life for the good. These are acts of profound significance, even if they never make the news or go down in history.
We are shaped by the people who influence us,
It’s an encouraging fact to realize that our influence on others may come from being influenced ourselves.
Ralph Waldo Emerson was a huge influence on Henry David Thoreau, providing land at Walden Pond and encouraging him as a writer. Thoreau would go on to become one of America’s most significant transcendentalist authors because of Emerson’s influence on him.
King Philip II of Macedon hired Aristotle to tutor his son, Alexander. What Alexander learned from his mentor enabled him to establish one of the greatest empires in history.
Most of us can trace our own significant moments back to someone who influenced us. For me, a neighbor suggested that I sign up for Little League when I was eight years old. That suggestion changed the course of my life. To my neighbor, it probably seemed like a small, unimportant thing. But to me it was so much more.
The people most significant in my life were not famous. My parents, certain teachers and coaches, some close friends—they all helped shape who I became. But none of them will go down in history. They wouldn’t have wanted to. What mattered most to them was making a difference in the lives they touched. And that’s what they did.
Interestingly, some of my biggest influencers were people who said wise things in memorable ways. Their quotations helped shape my decisions for years. In fact, I have 27 of those great quotations framed and hanging proudly on the walls of my home office. From time to time, I stand in front of them, read them, and think not only how wise the sayings are, but how much influence they’ve had on me.
Our significance grows through our own growth.
If you’re in the process of growing as a human being—learning, developing character, becoming wiser, making a difference, serving others—you’re almost certainly a positive influence on someone else. Our growth and our influence are linked.
Think of a fruit tree growing from a sapling. Each year it grows a bit more. With that growth comes greater potential influence. As it matures, it flowers, produces buds, and yields fruit. More growth means more fruit. And within each piece of fruit are seeds—each containing potential for new growth and new influence.
As someone wisely observed, “You can easily count the seeds in an apple, but it’s impossible to count the apples in a seed.”
Wayne Dyer put it a different way. He said, “You don’t need to be better than anyone else, you just need to be better than you used to be.” In other words, you’re growing. That’s the key. As we grow and become better than we used to be, our influence naturally expands with that growth. And as our influence grows, our significance grows.
Not everyone is extraordinary—and that’s okay.
Here’s a truth that is often missed by many. Only a handful of people are extraordinary. That’s by definition. If everyone were extraordinary, then no one would be. The word itself means “exceedingly rare.”
But here’s some good news you can take to the bank. You don’t need to be extraordinary to be significant. Oprah Winfrey said that while not everyone can be famous, everyone can be great—because greatness is determined by service. So if service, influence, and making a difference lead to significance, then significance is within the reach of almost everybody.
This is not to say that everyone will choose to be significant. If someone lives their entire life without being an influence on anyone else, without serving, or making any positive difference—well, there’s no great news to share. But it would be a choice—not a necessity. Nor would it be inevitable. Each of us can choose to be significant, or we can choose not to be. But being significant is clearly within our grasp.
The path to peace…
So, it’s highly unlikely that you or I will ever be famous or go down in history. Only a very tiny number of people will be extraordinary. And if we compare ourselves to the famous or extraordinary, we might come away feeling pretty insignificant.
The good news for all of us is that we don’t need to be famous to be significant. We don’t need to be extraordinary at all. We simply need to be consistently engaged in and committed to a few key things:
- Serving others
- Being a good example
- Making a positive difference
- Continuing to grow
- Being useful
If you commit to these things, you will almost surely be significant. You will change someone’s life. You will matter deeply to those you touch. You probably won’t ever be famous. You will not likely go down in history. But you will be able to look back with joy and satisfaction on a life that meant something.
