Category: Living Well

We align ourselves with what serves us first, so we can best serve those who we most align with second.

This is the formula forward.

Many people try to reverse this formula and align themselves with what best serves others first and then only serve themselves with whatever time/energy is left over and after the fact.

The reason this strategy doesn’t work (maybe less optimally… maybe not at all) is because serving others is an infinite and endless loop.

You could very well give every ounce of time and energy you have to the people closest to you and still be met with this black hole of insatiable needs and desires.

Not only is this incredibly exhausting and demoralizing… but debilitating.

We must remember: so long as we’re willing to give time and energy, so too will others be willing to take.

Think about it. Time and energy are our life’s most precious resources. And whenever another person gives us some of theirs, not only is it an invaluable investment but an affirmation of worth of ours.

And while this sounds like a wonderful gift to give to those closest to us, it completely disregards the person who’s closest…

Yourself.

If you aren’t willing to invest any of your most precious resources into yourself, how can you expect your ability to serve to grow? This is no different than an investment account.

No continued investments? No continued growth. Plain and simple.

And the time to invest isn’t after all of your money has been spent. It’s first and foremost—automatically preferably—so that your growth is guaranteed irrespective of the “market conditions” of those whom you’re most aligned to serve.

I’ve been trying this new strategy where, every Sunday, I set aside a few hours to deep clean/revamp one specific room.

This week it was my work room.

Not only did I declutter my desk, throw away a ton of crap, rearrange the furniture/decor, and give everything a good wipe down… but, I also bought and installed this clean, 5-tier floating corner bookshelf.

Why? Because I like the way it looks plus it’ll give me more room to organize the crap I don’t want to throw away.

And here’s the thing… liking the way things look and feel in your environment improves the way you feel and look at things while in it.

The degree to which this is true varies person to person. Some people seem to be strongly affected by the environment’s look and feel and some seem to carry on irrespective of it.

But, in my observation, seemingly unaffected doesn’t mean unaffected.

In my own life, I’ll occasionally recognize a psychological weight that’s being held by a task I’m leaving undone. One I keep putting off, that I know I’m putting off, that requires a little more time than I usually have, which is the excuse I always use, that results in this drag that, when I notice it, definitely affects the way I feel.

And then there are times when I walk into a room—like my work room after my work on it—and instantly notice a lightness… an excitement… a sense of relief… which, I know continues even after I’ve become used to the changes.

This is all to say: take care of your environment and your environment will take care of you.