Be interested in someone other than yourself.
Do you find it hard to build up others? Do you find it hard to champion someone who’s in your sphere of work, or moves in your social circle — someone who can, in fact, compete with you, and beat you? Do you hardly ever promote someone else’s project or giftedness — especially if it’ll eclipse your own? Are you willing to step out of the limelight to give way to someone who deserves to be discovered?
A friend was telling me the other day how annoyed she was at this woman who would advertise something only if she was the one speaking — apparently, this woman hardly ever promoted an event if she wasn’t the seminar speaker.
I laughed. I told my friend — “Haven’t you accepted the fact that there are very, very few secure people in the world who are capable of building up others? Or are even interested in others?” I told my friend that I had known this since I was in grade 6: the world is crawling with insecure people who aren’t interested in anyone but themselves.
Fortunately, I grew up with quite a number of delightfully secure people — friends who were willing to share what they excelled in, so that others could shine, too. I was a recipient of such graciousness, way back in grade 7. I had brilliant classmates who stepped aside and let me do what I was good at. They even told our teachers about me. Without classmates like them, I might not have taken up writing as a lifelong passion.
Literally, these friends were “the wind beneath my wings.” They critiqued my work assiduously, ruthlessly — but they also kept pushing me to write. Write. Write. And speak.
Speak. Speak. That’s how I learned to do both without much angst or trepidation.
Much later, at work, I met more of their kind — very secure, very emotionally stable people with the same kind of graciousness and generosity of spirit. My bosses and colleagues affirmed me, equipped me, and let me soar. It’s amazing how our tight little group was virtually immune to petty office politics.
Because of them, I have made it my mission to do the same for others: encourage, equip, empower. However, I have to be candid with you. It’s not just a matter of “paying it forward.” It’s partly because of selfish reasons.
You see, God allowed me to discover something quite early in life: there’s a boundless, limitless, indescribable JOY in helping someone shine; in teaching someone to do something well; in giving someone that strong, final PUSH to see him/her fly!!!
In the end, when you let others shine for doing something good, you shine, too! Yes. You shine, too, where it matters most: in God’s eyes.
