π Improve the Life of Others to Improve Your Own Life
Thoughts about how I think wanting to do things with the primary goal of serving others can improve our life.
Last week I wrote a Tweet about my thoughts about how to live a more fulfilling life. What I hadn't had the chance to express fully was how I think that the point is that we really want to do what we do for the right reasons.
It is easy to shift our focus, for example, to say that we write blog articles because we βwantβ to help others with the same problems. Only to franticly check Google Analytics the next day and feel bad if the numbers don't meet our expectations.
If our goal truly is to share what we know, the act of sharing it is already enough, no matter if we get 10 or 1000 clicks.
If our goal truly is to create a company that solves a critical problem, the act of solving it is already enough, even if we only earn just enough to cover the costs and don't get rich doing so.
If our goal truly is to make the people around us a little more joyful, the act of caring for them is already enough, even if they don't care as much for us as we do for them.
I took my cat to the vet the other day, and I think it is an excellent example of what I mean. This guy loves animals, but I suppose many of the animals he treats hate him. At least, my cat certainly does. But he doesn't care as long as my cat is better off in the long runβhe is okay with it.
If we do things for the wrong reasons, even if we get the likes and even if we get the money, the chances are that it won't be fulfilling. We might conclude that only more can make us happier.
On the other hand, if we are genuinely driven by doing what we do to make the life of other people better, even if we don't get the likes or make tons of money, we'll most likely feel good about ourselves at the end of the day.
I'll want to end this by clarifying that I don't talk about self-sacrifice. Quite the opposite, doing things for the right reason will improve our lives, too.