I have always come from a self sacrificing background. Perhaps it is the Christian upbringing. Perhaps it is the Grandmother is constantly serving others and never seems to want anything for herself. Most of all it is a belief in my core that serving others is the ultimate path. One you are in the service of others, you are fulfilling a higher calling and that perhaps, just perhaps, if you could be an instrument to lift another soul that you might receive dividends in return. It is also just feels good. When I have helped another, and I have seen that person succeed, the feeling I get is far greater then any personal win I have ever achieved.
This week I had an opportunity to learn that a friend that I helped years ago was able to successfully promote an idea into a robust company that earned a ton of money. I cannot say how much I really influenced that, probably little. However, I know that I helped and I did so with no expectation of return. I feel pretty good about that. I also saw failure this week from someone I have been really trying to help. That hurts. Hurts bad. This week I saw one of my children succeed, and did so on her own initiative. She dug deep and overcame her obstacle. Seeing that happen was amazing. I also saw one of my children stumble, a couple of times. That is hard to watch. However, watch I did, because that is what I had to go through to become who I am.
All of this I have said, I am proud to believe, but I am going to also advocate for self for a moment. I write this as if I am speaking to a group of people, but in reality, I am speaking to myself. There is no reason to feel guilty about focusing on the self. To improving who I am. For striving to achieve my aspirations. Somehow I also believe that if I become a better and stronger person, that I will have a greater capacity and ability to help others in the future – and that is good. Another friend told me this week about the angst he has when working for a company that he has to give it his all, that there is an ethic there that is important. I agree wholeheartedly, but not, not at the expense of self. If the job for which we are employed requires us to abandon self, then it is not a job worth having. Your goals, dreams, ambitions far exceed any corporate goal, unless of course your goals and the corporate goals are aligned perfectly. Have not had that happen in my life yet, if you have that scenario – then happy day!
I realize, as an employer of sorts, that I have always wanted the most I could get from my employees. When I owned my own business, and when I worked in the collegiate environment I always wanted more from people. Constantly pushing people to leave more on the table, to work harder. I suppose that is what I do, so I expect it from others. However, and I am reminding myself of this, should any “job” get in the way of who you are, and who you want to become. These two should be aligned as possible and if they are not, then there is disharmony and one or the other will suffer. If that is occurring, then we should all take serious stock in what is going on and work with others to figure out how to get the job and the self more aligned.
I wonder why I am thinking about all of this right now. What has this to do with keeping and maintaining commitments that I have made. Everything. Yeah, that is why. This is the root of personal commitment. It is ok, justifiable in fact, to focus on self to keep yourself intact, to keep yourself whole, healthy and building something great for your future. The job should absolutely be a means to an end, for that should be ultimately why we work. We work to get compensation, however, if all we can think about in that regard is the $ amount on the pay stub every two weeks then we have a problem. The compensation needs to be much more than that, it needs to be aligned to helping us keep, maintain, and strive to improve upon our personal commitments. I guess an even higher aspiration would be that the job helps us to achieve our objective to serve and help others. I really hope that we can all find ourselves in that situation, for that is truly harmony and really helps you feel like what you are doing all day long, for at least 5 days a week and sometimes 6 or 7 is worth it all.
So for me, I am going to work hard at improving myself. Keeping my commitments. Striving to achieve that vision of my future self. Building one step at a time, the dream that I have created a blueprint for. My job will help me do that, and I am extremely grateful that I have employment that can help me do so. I am grateful that I have some alignment in that regard. I am also grateful that my circumstance gives me many opportunities to help others, in which I hope that I can do. I also hope that I will always remember that those around me should and probably do have similar aspirations for themselves.
So here is to all of us achieving our dreams, taking care of ourselves and serving our loved ones! Now stop being lazy on Saturday mornings, and get your commitments done!
Guy Reams
365 Alumni
51 Days Left
