Why you should serve others more

There is no exercise better for the heart than reaching down and lifting people up. –John Holmes

Contributing to society and serving others has lead to a happier me. I am grateful I have had all the resources I need to be where I am today — in a position to spend my time, energy, focus, and money on serving others. Like myself, if you are in a position where you are capable of serving others (e.g. good enough health, you have food and shelter, enough money to cover health emergencies, good relationships, etc.), I highly recommend it.

The greats focus on serving others

I imagine you already are serving others in some capacity (e.g. helping a friend with their career search, making dinner for your family etc.), but you are too busy with work and life to do more. I want to share why I think it has been worth my time/energy/focus/money to do so.

In high school, there were a few subjects. I felt comfortable with and a couple friends wanted me to tutor them the best I could. During the experience, I learned about (1) how to instill confidence in an other (e.g. one friend was often discouraged) and (2) making learning fun (e.g. anytime my friend misdefined a Spanish vocabulary word, I would wrestle him. These experiences were awesome for me because I felt good about helping someone, I learned about how to effectively teach, and I built stronger relationships.

In college, with my interest in providing others a good experience, I hosted a lot of social events including barbecues, parties (led to two marriages!), and sports outings. It felt good when others had a good experience and I learned a lot about how to get people together and built deeper and new relationships.

More recently, I worked on connecting software engineers with philanthropy-focused organizations (e.g. a non-profit that connected companies with extra resources to non-profits in need). Through this experience, I learned about product management and business development. I also have spent time doing some motivational speaking at companies and universities around the country. I learned a lot about public speaking.

The smartest and happiest are those who focus on helping others.

From these experiences, I learned a ton and built a lot of great relationships. These experiences also helped me professionally a ton: learning how to get people together helped me host corporate events, learning how to mentor helped me instruct as a teacher and build an effective school, the product management experience helped me land a product manager job. The relationships built have been great and they have provided me with new job opportunities, support when I’ve been in need, companions for new activities etc.

These experiences are also very gratifying. It’s nice knowing that someone found their dream job, another became healthier, and an individual now has enough to support his family all because of your contribution.

To be selfless, you have to be selfish –Pandurang Shastri Athavale

There is no doubt serving others has heavily influenced my life for the better. I want to constantly remind myself I have enough and to do more to serve others. I encourage you to do the same. Thoughts? Please comment!