“What I do you cannot do; but what you do, I cannot do. The needs are great, and none of us, including me, ever do great things. But we can all do small things, with great love, and together we can do something wonderful. . . . We can do no great things; only small things with great love” (Mother Teresa).

We’ve been force-fed a view of success that is numbers oriented. Like how many zeros are in your salary or your bank account. Or how many sales you’ve completed. Or how many followers you have on your Facebook or twitter account.

But I think that real success, the kind that God looks at as success, comes on a much smaller scale.

It’s about showing up every single day with a teachable spirit, an open heart, and willing hands. It’s about figuring out how you want to be remembered after you die and living that way now.

Real success is about people who are better because they knew you. It’s not so much that your name is engraved on a plaque on a building or on a street sign, but on peoples’ hearts.

I keep thinking about a lady named Jestine, after whom the restaurant Jestine’s Kitchen is named. She never made millions of dollars or had a #1 bestseller, but she left a mark on the people who knew her. Even now, 15 years after she passed away at age 112, she is still missed by so many.

Ultimately, the success I want is not so much that people will remember my name fondly, but that because of me, people will understand a little bit better who God is and how much he really does love them. That people will know that they are specially and uniquely made by their Creator.

I’m reminded of the saying from the Talmud that if you change one person, you change the world. I know because I’ve been that one person.