Sometimes people ask me, "Why do you say you pitch for other people? What makes you focus so much on others?"
The answer is pretty simple. I care about other people. I love them! And that's because I love the God that created them. It's the same God that created me. He saved my life, so of course I want to help save the lives of others.
I'm focused on success for the same reason. It's because I want to achieve something, not only for myself, but for those who do not have. I want to achieve something for those who do not have food or clean water. I want to achieve something for orphans and victims of human trafficking. Imagine being hungry, or having a contaminated water supply. Imagine what happens to children who don't have a parent to love them. Imagine what it's like to be deprived of your freedom! These are the lives I want to help save.
I'd love to see that same approach to success take root in society. Go find a random person right now, anywhere you like, behind a desk or on a ball field or in a doctor's office. Anywhere you like. Ask them if they get up in the morning and set a goal to achieve something. They'll probably say yes. But then ask them, do they do it in order to help provide for someone who does not have? Most people are going to say no, I don't think that way when I set goals.
What happens we approach kids with the idea? It turns out they love it! I've seen it in my work with Team Not For Sale and the Something to Eat campaign. In these organizations, I see kids setting goals to achieve something just so they can help someone else. They'll say, "I guarantee you I can come up with fifteen cents to feed someone." Or they'll say, "I guarantee you I can come up with five cents to help with Not For Sale. I can do chores and I'll raise a dollar!" They follow through, too, because for them, helping those in need is a priority.
Involving young people in projects like these is the best way to transform society. We're helping them see that they can live their entire lives according to the idea that success is for them and for somebody else. This motivates them to be the best at what they do. They'll work hard to become leaders at their jobs and in their communities.
They'll also realize how big they can dream. They'll set goals to be CEOs and successful entrepreneurs, because they'll realize how powerful it is to be the one to make the rules. One of those rules can be to devote a portion of their company's revenues to building orphanages, or responding to food and water crises. Or they'll find a way to put an end to slave labor in their industry.
Showing up to help a person or a community that does not have is holy. It really is. The effects are felt everywhere. People know they have been helped, and they want to do the same thing. They know that someone provided for them by setting goals and dreaming dreams. So now they set goals and dream dreams. Now they achieve for the sake of others. Now it goes global.
When we think about about how to help others, we are motivated to excel in our jobs and our lives. We work harder for success when we know that our success can actually help. I really hope we can all learn to think this way.
Jeremy Affeldt does things with a sense of "love your neighbor as you love yourself." He is the founder of Generation Alive, a non-profit that inspires youth to serve others who are living in extreme poverty and faced with social injustice. He is the author of "To Stir a Movement, Life Justice and Major League Baseball." He is a pitcher for the 3 time World Champion San Francisco Giants.