We’re at our best for others when we think most about ourselves.
Bold claim. But there’s a lot going on there, so let me unpack it for you.
You’re best able to tackle and overcome obstacles when you take on challenges that are inherently inspiring and meaningful to you. To be precise, those are the challenges that you don’t need external encouragement and reminding to respond to. If someone has to constantly remind you to take out the garbage, is it fair to say you’re not inspired to take out the garbage?
You may need to do some introspection to find out what’s truly meaningful to you. But it’s not rocket science. It’s all in your behaviour. You’re already investing resources into it, so it’s just a matter of recognizing that, and standing up for it.
Maybe you love fishing. Maybe you love tinkering with cars.
What it is doesn’t really matter. But once you know what it is, don’t apologize for it.
Let’s take this a step deeper. Say you love fishing, and a friend of yours is interested in it but doesn’t quite know how to bait a hook, or where they should go to get the biggest fish, or what rod they should be using…
Those would be perfect opportunities to help your friend while solving their problems related to something you find fulfilling and inspiring. You’d come up with great solutions because you’re really inspired about the subject.
Starting to see what I mean up top, then? By serving other people according to what we find deeply meaningful to ourselves, everybody wins. They get great ideas, you get to have fun deploying them.
All it takes is for you to find out what’s inspiring to you.
