Helping Other People Succeed

One can argue that human nature is somewhat selfish. No matter how altruistic you are, at the end of the day most people are primarily concerned with how things in life impact them. We all view life through our own eyes and see the world unfolding through the backdrop of our own screenplay. Every day we wake up focused on our goals, our needs, our challenges, and our relationships. Here's a little secret—so does everyone else!

Early in my life I had an experience that taught me an important lesson about success. In my early teenage years I played some organized hockey. This was before five dislocated shoulders and two broken ankles derailed my dream of playing in the NHL! One year, I was named captain of my team. I worked my tail off to improve my skills. I hit the weight room to be strong enough to play in front of the net. All of this effort paid off in my leading the league in scoring that year. Unfortunately, my team was mediocre and we missed the playoffs that year. This was a tremendous disappointment to me, but I took some solace in the fact that as the leagues' leading scorer, I was certain to win the MVP award. I sat next to my coach at the awards banquet thinking about what I would say and who I would thank when my name was called for the MVP award. When that moment came, the master of ceremonies introduced another player! How could that be? I led the league in scoring! I had ten more goals than my closest competitor! What the heck? I turned ...

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