Here's your mentality when you're a servant leader. You say, "I'm going to take my leadership skills and use them to serve."
That's the whole concept of servant leadership, in a nutshell. You lead with the understanding that you're going to serve others. And when you start doing that your life changes. It transforms! You'll find joy.
One place you'll find joy is in your job. When you serve, you will find that you're not just going through the motions anymore. So many of us are doing that! Or at least trying to do it. You find a job where you have some stability and you're earning a good living, and you're not thrilled, but it's a good gig. "So," you say, "I guess I'll keep doing it."
It doesn't have to be that way. It doesn't even make sense to live that way! Try an experiment. Ask yourself, why do you do your job? Obviously, making money is great, and making a lot of money is even better. But what happens when you go home? What happens when you look at yourself in the mirror? Are you happy? Do you love what you see? If not, then making money isn't enough.
And the point is, money never is enough. There's always going to be more to a fulfilled life than the money you earned. Check out those people that enjoy their jobs because they're helping. Think about them. They go home fulfilled. It makes them better husbands and wives. They're better parents. They're better in their families. That's what comes of being fulfilled in your job. Those people have it figured out. They're not just working to make ends meet, and they're not just working to make tons of money. They're doing that, sure, but they're also working because it helps other people. They serve others.
When you take your leadership skills and use them to serve, your soul literally is healed. Your soul is healed simply through helping other people. You feel better as a person. You know who you are, and exactly why you walk this earth. There's a reason for you to be here, and you know what it is. You're fulfilling your mission. You feel a sense of accomplishment. This is addicting!
We're starting to figure it out. Leaders are using their skills to create companies that are committed to a cause. We're finding out that when they do that, people want to buy their products. These leaders are founding companies, producing goods and services, and creating jobs, all for the purpose of service to humanity.
We're talking about entrepreneurship and hard work that isn't driven by greed. It's driven by a commitment to service. We're seeing a whole new generation arise that is saying, "We're tired of just making money for ourselves. We're tired of all these things. You know what? I've got a gift. I've got a gift of marketing, or I've got a gift of invention. I've been given a mind that can design a product, or a concept, or an idea. I take pleasure in that, personal pleasure, and I take pride in it. I even make a living doing it. But above all, I know that it's going to help somebody else, and this is why I want to continue doing it."
You see? It's addicting! What happens once you get past the whole do-it-for-yourself mentality? What happens when you start a business or take on a job simply because it allows you to help somebody else? What happens when you do this, and your concept works? I'll tell you what happens. You get addicted! You want to keep doing it!
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Jeremy Affeldt, pitcher for the three time Baseball World Champion San Francisco Giants and Major League pitcher for 14 years, recently retired. His streak of 22 consecutive scoreless appearances in the post season trails Mariano Rivera's mark by only one. He is an all-time leader in postseason ERA, with a minimum of 30 innings, with an 0.86.
Jeremy is a humanitarian, philanthropist, author, public speaker, and co-founder of Generation Alive. He works to end human trafficking, feed the hungry and end poverty. He is the author of To Stir A Movement, Life, Justice, and Major League Baseball. His second book is expected to be released in 2016. Follow him on twitter, Instagram and Facebook @JeremyAffeldt.