Erwin Raphael McManus’s discourse from Mind Shift: It Doesn’t Take a Genius to Think Like One (2023) emphasizes the importance of life’s purpose transcending the pursuit of money, fame, or power. Without deeper meaning, success remains hollow.

While money, fame, and the trappings of success can be extraordinary outcomes of a life well lived, they make for terrible objectives. Your life purpose must be bigger than simply becoming famous, rich, or powerful. If these are the fuel of your life, you will always be running on empty. You will achieve everything you’ve ever wanted and still feel as if you have nothing. You must live for more. There is no level of success that will give meaning to your life. If you do not already have meaning in your life, all that you attain in life will have no meaning.

Success merely magnifies one’s existing traits; it doesn’t inherently improve character. There’s a cost to success.