Chapter 20: Service: Finding Value Within to Benefit the World

An unshared life is not living. He who shares does not lessen, but greatens, his life.

—Stephen S. Wise,
clergyman and activist

What Is Service?

The definition of service is simple: It is an act of helpful activity. There are many different ways of giving service, but the bottom line is that it is a contribution of your talents, knowledge, and experience to benefit others around you.

We often think of service as giving up something (time or money, for example) to give to someone else. But often service is giving more of yourself to everything you do. Whatever you do in life, your goal is to serve people to the best of your ability. If you are a gas station attendant, your goal is to give 110 percent to your customers—to give them more than they expect. If you're a CEO of a large corporation, your goal is the same.

Life is not meant to be lived selfishly. The true key to successful living is to turn the focus from "How can I help myself?" to "What can I do for others?" Whenever you find yourself off track, recognize that your center of focus is turned inward, toward yourself. As soon as you turn yourself around, everything will come back to you tenfold as you focus on helping others. The more you impact other's lives for the better, the greater your success becomes. The greater your service is, the greater your rewards in life.

Some rewards are tangible—you may make more money, have a nice home and car. Some rewards are intangible—they come in the form of inner satisfaction, happiness, and self-worth. When you give service, you don't necessarily get an immediate reward. The reward may never come, or it may come at a totally unexpected time. The more people you help in this life, the greater the chances that some of them will come back to help you.

Some people you serve may never help you at all. Some may not even say thank you. Some people say that you should give service without looking for rewards—that giving service is in itself reward enough. This may be true. But what's wrong with giving service knowing it will help you as well as somebody else? If my motive is to help you, and by helping you I help myself, where's the harm in that? It's the classic win-win situation.

The greatest good you can do for another is not just to share your riches, but to reveal to him his own.

—Benjamin Disraeli,
British prime minister