Dad was obsessed with being of service. He said, “Your goals shouldn’t focus on what you can achieve for yourself. Instead, they should only serve as markers, measuring the progress you make in pursuing something greater than yourself.”
If I set my mind to doing something, he would only assist or offer advice to me if it had a service component. How was this thing I wanted to do or have going to help someone other than me? As I grew older, the expectation was that my accomplishments must include opportunities for others in my sphere to achieve something they wanted as well.
During my tenure with Mary Kay, I learned that personal accomplishment would only take me so far. To move into management, a consultant has to help other people achieve their goals. As a Sales Director, my focus couldn’t just be on hitting production goals (which couldn’t be achieved alone), but instead, it had to be on helping the entire unit achieve their individual, personal goals—one consultant at a time.
Because I am highly driven, I’ll admit there were times, when I tried to do it alone with maximum personal achievement for my unit. All that accomplished was my devoted unit members sitting down and watching the “Lauren Schieffer Show,” and the unit didn’t grow. Directors with longevity understand the privilege of serving their unit, listening to each team member to learn more about her goals and the why behind those goals, then providing the opportunity to stretch and grow. It’s only with their success that a Director achieves her own success. In turn, because that success is born out of service, it is a way to attain significance as well.
Now, you don’t have to be in direct sales, lead a team, or grow up in the military to pursue a goal larger than yourself. Every city and small town has a food pantry that needs to be stocked, a homeless shelter that needs compassionate volunteers, a playground yet to be built, a school that needs a fresh coat of paint, or a community fishing pond that needs tending. The opportunities for service abound. All you have to do is look around you. Choose something today that resonates with you and shift your focus from you and your achievements to working in collaboration with your neighbors, pursuing something that will benefit others—something greater than yourself.
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