What do you long to hear? Are you looking for a thumbs up on something? Are you looking for a “Well Done” from someone? We are all longing for approval in some or many areas of our lives.
Which of your struggles is for personal and or business success and reward?
What wrong do you seek justice for?
…And when it comes…”What will you feel?” “How long will that feeling last?”
Once you receive the approval, success, vindication, the justice – how willing will you be to release the striving of the quest?
When we come from a place of self serving; personal praise, the driving need to show someone, to get even, to be right , results in undermining the very process we seek.
The praise that comes from man is fleeting and hollow.
Ask yourself this question: “When I accomplish “X” whom have I lifted up and served?”
You see the bigger question is whom are you serving everyday, through your business, your relationships, your professional life, and your personal life?
What or whom is currently motivating you?
Let’s take a different look if you will at this from another line of thinking. In our longing for approval for whatever reason, in any area of our lives, what percentage of your actions come directly from : your own abilities, your own intelligence, your own knowledge, your own reasoning, your own experience and your own efforts? (A)
100% right?
What have the results been so far? Your expectation = (A) + Time. When these do not match then you are a discouraged, unhappy, negative person who is in a place of longing.
If everything you do is for your own glorification, you will always live in a state of disappointment and discontent.
Our reason for doing anything must come from a place of serving others. Here’s just a glimpse of what I mean:
If you are a: a mom, a housekeeper, single parent, a chef, a teacher, a Sunday school teacher, a bus driver, an author, a store clerk, a truck driver, a cab driver, a marketing person, a fireman, an EMT, an HR person, a journalist, the mailman, a data entry clerk, a landscaper, a dentist, a Dad, a nanny, a student, a spouse, a pilot, a fast food drive through server, a waiter…..whatever you are, you are actually in the business of serving the people who eventually receive your service through your hours and hours of work. You represent the bigger organization from which they buy and use the product you help to produce. Yes, it may be hard, competitive, long hours, endless repetition however, it must be completed and your completion directly hooks into hundreds of others who work in order to get a service or product to a customer somewhere.
So the bottom line is how you view all of this. Do you see this as a burden as a stumbling block? Or do you see this as an opportunity to serve and the opportunity to be a blessing to someone else while you are earning your living.
Approval is a fleeting thing. Your greatest approval rating comes from a customer who returns again and again and being able to fall into bed at night with a feeling of serving others and completing your day by giving your all.
