A few seconds after telling a reporter in a press conference on Tuesday at Royal Portrush that he doesn’t read many books beyond the prayer devotional on his iPad, Golf World’s #1 Scottie Scheffler spent five minutes and 40 seconds tackling a philosophical question that has plagued the sharpest minds our world has produced, and which can be framed in different ways but ultimately boils down to this:

What is the point of life?

In that interview before the first round of the British Open, he opened-up in a way that happens infrequently among the world’s elite. His disclosure was honest:

“This is not a fulfilling life. It’s fulfilling from a sense of accomplishment, but it’s not fulfilling from a sense of the deepest places of your heart. There’s a lot of people that make it to what they thought was going to fulfill them in life. And then you get there, then all of a sudden you get to number one in the world, and they’re, like, what’s the point?”

Champions are seldom idiots; the intellectual status of best-in-class performers is often top-tier. Scheffler is the top of his game, without question. It’s interesting how consistent the perspectives of high-impact performers are once reaching the pinnacle. Here’s the insight from another historic record holder:

“Meaningless! Meaningless! Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless. What do people gain from all their labors at which they toil under the sun?” — Solomon, in Ecclesiastes 1:2-3

In every society, there is a pecking order afoot, and everyone – everyone – is positioned somewhere in its hierarchy. Think of it as a pyramid with three levels, and the population at each level varies predictably. Each tier operates with its own static agenda: people may move up-and-down the escalator between categories, but there are only three addresses in this high-rise.

The lowest level is defined by its timeless focus: it’s Survival, and it comprises the largest demographic in the structure. The fear of insufficiency is the toxic air that pollutes every moment for this majority populace: playing to that fear fuels commerce and politics. 

The big step up from Survival is Success. Few break through the barrier between those levels, but for those who do, abundance seems to exist as the prize. One would assume that to be the ultimate achievement, but the most-accomplished seldom seem settled in the excess that surrounds them. Occasionally, someone like Scotty becomes honest in calling-out the Emperor’s New Clothes: Success, according to Scheffler, doesn’t ring the inner bell of Satisfaction.

The Penthouse of the Pyramid is the ultimate: it’s Significance. Success is achieved, but Significance can only be pursued. There are metrics in mortality that allow Success to be claimed – and, taxed – but the only measure of Significance that matters is the one that will be determined by Heaven’s King, on the threshold of Eternity:

“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad”  — 2 Corinthians 5:10

Three decades ago, my friend Bob Buford wrote the book: Halftime: Changing Your Gameplan from Success to Significance. That conversation was, in part, the impetus for The Master’s Program. High-potential followers of Jesus will climb that same pyramid; only those with Eternity on their horizon have the potential to realize real Significance. 

Solomon realized that as he wrapped up his short version of Buford’s manifesto, 3000 years ago:

“Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil” — Ecclesiastes 12:13-14

Summer reading suggestions: read – or, reread – Halftime. Read my follow-up: LifeMastery. Do some daily readings from Solomon’s Success manual: Proverbs; follow that with his grand finale: Ecclesiastes. Be honest about where you are in the pyramid: don’t rest until you get to the top – the pursuit of Significance – and long with positive anticipation for the ultimate final assessment: “Well done, my good and faithful servant!”

Bob Shank

___
Discover the locations of our new cohort launches! CLICK HERE