There Is Enough To Go Around!

In just about all areas of the world, everyone thinks they have to approach life with a "dog eat dog" attitude. In school and sports as a child, everything seemed to be designed to teach us to do whatever we had to do to reach the top. There is NOTHING wrong with being willing to make personal sacrifices and follow your determination to reach a goal, that isn't what I'm referring to. The problem isn't in ambition, it's in the misinterpretation of the phrase "whatever it takes". I'm talking about the attitude that drives people to betray others and beat others down in an effort to elevate themselves. There are people that don't follow this mentality and I have nothing but respect for them. Sadly though, the "dog eat dog" attitude is way more common than the alternative.

I'd bet that almost everyone has been involved in a situation where they were faced with the dilemma "do I betray my friend/family/colleague or talk behind their back so that I can be seen as better than them or get a promotion, OR should I try to help them get the same thing I'm trying to get(at the risk of not getting it yourself).". If you haven't had to ever make this decision then you most certainly were on  the other end at some point. Here's the thing though...are there REALLY only 2 options? Is it really this or that. Me or them? Does one corporation have to put another one out of business in order to make a profit? Does one person have to betray a friend in order to climb the corporate ladder? Why is it that this is so common?

There is a certain mentality that I have come to love and try to incorporate into my everyday life. I don't know what it's called but I'm going to explain it here.

The first place I found this mentality is in the gospel of Jesus Christ. According to the scriptures, the only way to reach exaltation is by helping and serving others. Take a look at this response of Jesus to a question he was asked in Matthew 22:36-40:

36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?

 37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

 38 This is the first and great commandment.

 39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

What does it mean to "love thy neighbour as thyself"? It most definitely doesn't include betrayal or talking behind ones back. It doesn't entail trying to make others look bad to elevate yourself. In fact, in Matthew 23:12 it says this:

12 And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.

In other words, if you try to build yourself and ignore helping others, you will be abased. What does abased mean? Here is what Merriam Webster says about it:

Definition of ABASE

transitive verb

archaic :  to lower physically

:  to lower in rank, office, prestige, or esteem 

However, if you humble yourself (humility: the quality or state of not thinking you are better than other people : the quality or state of being humble), you will be exalted (raised to a higher level). I'm not suggesting that this should be your motivation because that seems a bit counter effective, but the reality is that in order to raise your spiritual level, you do so by following the golden rule...by loving your neighbor as you love yourself. In other words, you build up others. Provide value for others and your quality of life will be improved. 

The second place I found this mentality is in a true network marketing company. The ONLY way to build a successful multi level marketing business is to help others succeed. It is literally the OPPOSITE of the corporate structure. Instead of trying to get ahead of others and "beating" them to the top, you try to help them succeed and get to the "top", and by so doing, create a great residual income for yourself. The best part about this is that you can't blame anyone else for success or failure in this industry. If you succeed, you did so by helping a lot of people. If you don't succeed, it's because you didn't help enough people. It's ALL ABOUT PROVIDING VALUE TO OTHERS! If I sign someone up under me in my business and they are more successful than me, it makes me happy! I want their business to be successful because it helps me be successful. It's like the business version of the gospel principles I already discussed! Anybody that tries to do it by tearing others down or following the typical corporate attitude, will undoubtedly fail and give up at some point, and then say that the MLM business model doesn't work because they tried it...but they tried it with the wrong attitude!

The third placed I've found this mentality is in the Ninja Warrior community (by that I mean people that train for the American Ninja Warrior type courses). I think this is why I'm so drawn towards it. It's not about beating other people in the competition. It's about beating the course! Everyone shares their tips and strategies with each other because it's like they are all on the same team and not opponents. The opponent is the obstacles, not the people. There is nothing but love and support that I've seen from the Ninja Community. It is ALL about building others and helping others succeed. 

Have you ever heard the term "Givers Gain"? Or perhaps you've heard about karma. The energy you put out in the world comes back to you ten fold. Don't believe it? Try it out for a week and see how the world changes! Spend a week focused on how you can help and serve others and your whole world and perspective will change. I promise you that! If you want to know the secret to happiness, you've found it. In voluntary service to others, you'll find yourself and helping create value in others lives, you'll find happiness!