Serving Success
What does it mean to serve success? I would define it as giving to receive something desired. Beyond that, I would also say that it means to “serve success” to ourselves, thereby creating success for ourselves.
I was talking to someone recently and they said, “I wouldn’t do that anymore, I am beyond that.”
I had to pause in disbelief. You’re… beyond that?
It made me immediately think of the quote,
“If serving is below you, leadership is beyond you.”
The context was that of working more than 40 hours a week. They basically explained that they were at a point where they would never “settle” for working longer than they deemed necessary.
It makes me think of the Bible. Jesus humbled himself when He came to earth. God sent His only son not to rule over the earth but to become human, in the form of a baby, the most vulnerable state one could ever be in.
Serving is not below God. On earth, He served others, entirely.
What surprises me most is the hesitancy that some have to serve others, especially because if someone were to serve them, they would love that.
To me, it all depends upon what we are seeking. In the situation of a 40-hour work week, I think it is pretty fair to say, at least generally, that the person who stays the extra 3 hours will be the one that is looked at first for promotions, rather than the person who never works more than 40 hours in a week.
Now, if the person who refuses to work more than 40 is completely okay with minimal advancement professionally, then cool. But, if that person desires to advance and be a top person, they will need to do more than what is required of them.
It all comes down to what people are looking to get out of things. Serving others does many things and provides people with different things based off of what they give. You have to give to receive in most situations, expecting something for nothing is rarely the case. Even if it appears that way, what is received for “nothing” never truly is for nothing.
85% of jobs nowadays are attained through either a personal recommendation or a connection within the company. While you could get a position from simply knowing someone within the company, that still is not something for nothing. You earned that position. You cultivated that relationship and built it up to a point where that person would even think about considering you for a position within their company.
It is the same with many other things. In a parent/child relationship, there are different aspects of each relationship. Each child looks at their parent differently than another does. More than that, each parent expects different things out of their children. But, what parent would not appreciate their child going out of their way to wash all the dishes or do all the laundry?
When I was in New York I met with someone who is part of Google, Ryan, and we talked about the trait of hunger. He was saying how that is one of the things that he looks for in a new hire and then talked about how his hunger was not only developed, but practiced. He grew up poor and worked hard. He expected growth and attracted it to him by giving and serving first, and then receiving.
“Hope looks forward. Faith knows it has already received and acts accordingly” — Florence Shinn
To “serve success” we must expect what we want to happen. Most of us know how to attain things that we desire yet, many of us do not do those things. Still, we must give to receive. We can hope for something all we want but unless we have faith that we can attain it and follow up that faith with relentless work, we will not attain whatever it is what we hope for.