Love-led leaders find more fulfillment not in what they ask for but in what they give away.  – N. Anderson

The Getting Goal

There was a time when I would spend hours creating my “wish list” of all I wanted and wanted to achieve. I had notebooks with all of the things I wanted, both personally and professionally, and then I put a timetable to each goal.

Don’t get me wrong; that is valuable, especially when building your career. It’s part of the process of life, your ego drives so much of our behavior in our earlier years, but there comes a time when ego has to take a back seat.

Eventually I found that I had invested so much energy in creating what I wanted; the fulfillment I anticipated when reaching each of these milestones simply wasn’t there. I felt empty, not excited or proud. Sure, there were some milestones worth celebrating, but all I was doing was celebrating what I had done and was going to do, I forgot about the power of celebrating others. I forgot that at the end of the day, it’s not about all I get but more about how I can give back.

The Giving Goal

When I was able to shift my focus from “me to we”- whether it was through volunteering, mentoring, or just being a good listener, that’s when I realized that fulfillment didn’t come from all I was trying to gain but from what I was able to give away.

It became so clear to me that joy in life definitely is more from what we can do to help others than just worrying about me. There is no doubt that when you give, you get back more than you ever realized, not in a monetary way or climbing the ladder of success way, rather the innate joy that comes from getting outside of yourself and helping others succeed.

Yet another humbling lesson in leadership and life!

What’s been your humbling leadership lesson?

Here’s to leading with love!

Love,

Nicki