Page 178 - Never Fly Solo

SERVICE BEFORE SELF | 151
I believe we are all wired by our creator to serve. When
people call out Mayday to us, it’s almost impossible not to
help them, especially if they are business associates, close
friends, or family. By constantly asking yourself these three
questions, you will keep yourself in a serving state of mind—
thinking about, and looking for, opportunities to serve. Imag-
ine what can happen when an entire working group of people
is focused on serving each other.
On the ladder of life, we need to have one hand reaching
up to a wingman who will pull us up to the next rung of suc-
cess. And we also need to have one hand reaching down to
help lift someone else up to the next rung. And sometimes,
like Pardo, we need to push our wingmen when they’re out of
fuel and have no thrust of their own to finish the mission.
The first four words of Rick Warren’s The Purpose-Driven
Life are profound: “It’s not about you.” He’s right, of course.
True happiness in life comes from serving others. But that
doesn’t mean that we can—or even should—devote ourselves
to others 100 percent of the time. It’s simply not the way
human beings were meant to work. We can’t help anyone if
we aren’t taking care of ourselves as we go.
We’ve all known people who spent all their time and
energy taking care of everyone else but were meanwhile
neglecting themselves. They give and give, and in the end they
become resentful because no one was looking out for them.
The thing is, no one else was supposed to be looking out for
them—that was their job, not someone else’s. Have you been
there? I know I have! Sometimes it needs to be about our-
selves. We need to take care of and serve our inner wingman
before we can serve another. That isn’t being selfish; it’s being
reasonable and responsible.