When you think of great success and the prospect of achieving it for yourself, you would be forgiven for focusing all of your thoughts and ideas on tasks and actions that are mostly self-serving.
The surface value idea of achieving success certainly evokes images of clichés like ‘survival of the fittest,’ ‘the cream rises to the top,’ and ‘the ladder to success is only wide enough for a single climber,’ but what these old-fashioned sayings fail to take into account is the fact that one of the key factors in leading yourself to success is through helping others.
Just in case you were thinking that a statement like this is positive in theory but a waste of time, in reality, take a few moments to read through this list of ways to help others in order to achieve your own success.
1. Share your experience and knowledge
You shouldn’t think of your own knowledge or experience as a tool that you can keep guarded and use against people when the time comes for ‘battle.’ Instead, you should be trying as often as you can to share and spread your knowledge to those around you.
It is not only teachers who have the opportunity to make a difference in people’s lives and minds. The more educated you are, the more educated the people around you have a chance to be, creating an altogether more positive and productive environment. This does not mean, however, that you should not be striving to stay ahead of the curve.
2. Help others find their value
Something that benefits you as much as your colleague or friend is if you help them to discover what is truly valuable to them. When somebody has a strong motivation, their work ethic and attitude become infinitely stronger and more committed. And, if you are in a position of group work with this person, then their new found determination will only ever reflect positively on you and help you as much as you have helped them.
3. Share resources
Do not hoard your resources as a matter of selfish principle in order to stay on top. A much healthier and more productive way to maintain your success is by sharing your resources with those around you that would benefit the most.
The more proficient in their given field a person becomes thanks to you, the more likely it is that you might be able to call upon their services to aid you later down the line. Your initially selfless act of sharing can become a favor to call on in the future.
4. Help people know their opportunities
This is a good way to make people aware of exciting opportunities as often as possible. You shouldn’t use your own success as a way to keep others below you by cutting off their exposure to chances of betterment. The more often you can connect a person with a dream job or a dream opportunity, the more potential they have of being important and helpful contacts in your own life later down the line.
5. Advocate for brands
‘Helping others’ does not just have to relate to individuals, it can also relate to brands and companies. If you are in a high profile position enough to be able to advocate for brands in return for either a fee or business perks, then this is probably the most professional example of helping others in order to increase your own success. You are spreading the word for a brand, and they are rewarding you for doing so. A perfect symbiotic business arrangement.
6. Transparent feedback
It might make you seem like a harsh person at the moment, but you should never sugarcoat feedback for people who you truly respect. Constructive criticism might be tough to take sometimes, but it is always given in the best interests of the recipient, and if it takes a few honest words from you to set a person on another, more positive and fruitful track, then your potential coldness at the moment will prove to be positive in the long run. They will certainly come to thank you for it later.
7. Be an introducer
If you thrive in a busy working environment with many different possibilities of cross connection, then take it upon yourself to be a top-notch ‘introducer.’ Make a name for yourself as the person who is best at introducing and sparking connections between different individuals and companies who you think can be good for each other. The better you become at playing this role, the higher your credibility and reputation will be among your peers.
8. Do some volunteering job
It is always a good thing to keep yourself grounded and humble, and a great way to do this is by offering your free time to those less fortunate. This could be for an official organization, or it could even be in the form of helping out a friend in need on a day off.
No matter what kind of kindness you choose to undertake, your actions will be remembered by those who benefit and in the future others will be much more inclined to take time out of their own lives to help you.
9. Celebrate other people’s success
Always make sure to celebrate the success of other people in your life just as happily as you would celebrate your own. By fostering an atmosphere of positivity in your life, both professional and personal, you will find that you become a figure of inspiration to others. You never know who might remember you when the time comes for doing a little paying it forward of their own.
10. Pay it forward
Rather than doing things for people with the expectation of asking for a favor in the future, you should also make a habit of being truly altruistic, catering for the needs of others with no anticipation of receiving something in return other than gratitude.
In a mildly selfish sense, doing good for others can boost your mood and sense of self-worth, which in turn, might help to make you a more rounded and successful person.
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