Our Service To Others

Here’s opening essay to the fifth issue of my newsletter. To see the full newsletter, check out this and other issues here.

We’re all familiar with the mantra, “Do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life.” Or, “Do what you love and success will follow.” Maybe that’s true. The problem with these statements is that they both make it easy to assume that success is something you achieve only for yourself. Perhaps that misses the point.

This week, I started rereading Success Built To Last: Creating A Life That Matters. The authors note that those who achieve lasting success and fulfillment are those who combine what they love in service to others. They note: “It’s all about alignment of what’s inside your heart and what the world needs. It’s about finding what you love and doing that to serve others.” More to the point, for those who want to build a meaningful life, the real definition of success is a life and work that brings personal fulfillment, lasting relationships, and makes a difference in the world in which we live.

So that’s the question we really face at the end of this most clarifying year: How do we expand our vision of what we’re offering the world so that it helps others and doesn’t just accrue to our sole benefit? For example, I know that one of the things that drives much of my work is my impulse to highlight and lift up others. When I look back, it’s why I liked representing artists and organizations as a publicist and an artist manager. It’s why I spent a decade advocating for Black alternative culture as a publisher. It’s why I dedicated the last three years to ensuring that the legacy of historic Weeksville will live on. All of it’s been about things bigger than or beyond me. Now, if that’s a personal through-line, then what does that mean for how I go about my work going forward? It’s a work-in-progress, but I’m thinking hard about how I take everything I’ve learned and use it to level up my impact in the world.

Always use your superpowers for good, right?

How do y’all think about your own service to others? Drop a comment below. I’ll certainly appreciate the inspiration your responses provide.