Hi Max!Was just thinking about you today and was compelled to share this message with you:
Servlng leads to deserving. I've been credited with that quote and if I'd love to have one preceding my name, this would be one. There are so many strengths to leading with serving.
1) Serving leads to deserving. As you increasingly help others, your capacity and ability to help grows - like a muscle - the more you work it, the stronger it gets. You meet people who can help more people better and faster and solve their problems and challenges faster and at a higher level. Your network of helpers (I call this your Team) gets larger, stronger, better, and more precise. Rather than having a few tools in your tool chest, you have an arsenal of tools that work in many places.
2) Serving leads to deserving. Serving people and "serving the time" leads to a feeling of deserving the rewards. When Vijay Singh knocked Tiger Woods off the perch of the #1 Ranking of PGA Tour golfers, he had hit 1000 balls per day every day. He practiced daily and pursued the endeavor with full focus and intensity. The result: he knocked what many consider the greatest golfer of our time off the #1 spot*. When asked how he did it, Singh responded, "I hit 1000 balls per day every day... I worked harder than anybody else. I deserve #1." When you serve, you deserve. Many people don't get referrals in business because they don't feel like they deserve the referrals. "I'm not good enough. I don't work hard enough. I don't have the experience/I am new. I am part-time. I don't have a team. I don't deserve this." are all comments that equate to excuses. When you work hard, you feel you deserve the rewards. When you serve many people, you feel you deserve the business and the referrals. (*By the way, read this article and look at the quotes about Vijay Singh on his way to #1. Do you see some correlations to the Generosity Generation here? Click here)
3) Serving leads to deserving. As you serve more people, your self-esteem rises. Dr. Karl Menninger was asked, "What should a person do if he felt a 'nervous breakdown' coming on?" He said: "Lock up your house, go across the railroad tracks, find someone in need, and do something for them." Not just those at the desperate end of the spectrum can benefit from helping others. We find our own value in helping others. We help a person and it feels good. We find that we are useful. We help another and we feel even better and we find that we are even more useful. Continue to give and help, and you find your usefulness to the world almost immeasurable. Our value to the world is determined by our value to the people of the world. The Law of Compensation says the greater our value to the world, the higher our compensation (the more the world will pay us for our help). Dave Ramsey, in his study of billionaires, found two common characteristics of these highest of the high earners - they were consistent (the tortoise always wins) and they were givers. Do you think they were givers first or billionaires?
There are many more reasons "Serving Leads to Deserving", but these are three of the most important. Many of the people I speak to are sales people and they need to take this to heart - after all, the root word for "to sell" is "sellan" which means "to give" or "to serve" (read that in The Go-Giver).
Max, you are a natural-born server. I have seen you help your classmates, your mother, me, and others without even knowing that what you were doing is out of the ordinary. You get it and I love that about you. As you get older, I hope this talent takes you far and my bits of what I've learned over time helps you hone that talent.
Blessings!
Max's Dad (Michael)
P.S. Dr. Karl Meninger has some of my favorite quotes:
On love
"Love cures people - both the ones who give it and the ones who receive it."
On love II
"Love is a medicine for the sickness of the world; a prescription often given, too rarely taken."
On love III
"One does not fall into love; one grows into love, and love grows in him."
