When you know your purpose in life and are growing to reach your maximum potential, you’re well on your way to being a success. But there is one more essential of the success journey: helping others. Without this aspect, the journey can be a lonely and shallow experience.
It’s been said that we make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give. Physician, theologian, and philosopher Albert Schweitzer stated it even more strongly: “The purpose of human life is to serve, to show compassion and the will to help others.” For him, the success journey led to Africa where he served people for many years.
For you sewing seeds that benefit others probably won’t mean traveling to another country to serve the poor—unless that is the purpose you were born to fulfill. (And if it is you won’t be satisfied until that’s what you’re doing.) However, if you’re like most people, helping others is something you can do right here at home, whether it’s spending more time with your family, developing an employee who shows potential, helping people in the community, or putting your desires on hold for sake of your team at work. The key is to find your purpose and help others while you’re pursuing it. Entertainer Danny Thomas insisted that “all of us are born for a reason, but all of us don’t discover why. Success in life has nothing to with what you gain in life or accomplish for yourself. It’s what you do for others.”
We make a living by what we get;
But we make a life by what we give.
Having the right view of success can help you gain a positive attitude about yourself and life, no matter what kind of circumstances you find yourself in. And if you can help the people you lead to adopt the same view of success, you can help them to always have hope and to become successful. Why? Because all people—regardless of their talent level, education, or upbringing—are capable of knowing their purpose, growing to their maximum potential, sewing seeds that benefit others. And helping people is what leadership is really all about. ~John C. Maxwell, Attitude 101 (Nashville, Tennessee, by Thomas Nelson, Inc.), p.92
(Posts with a preamble asterisk * are for a more general audience, and not specific to teachings of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.)
