Selflessness Is Rarely Convenient But It’s Inspiring

Putting the needs of others before your own needs, desires and convenience.

When is it convenient to be selfless? Rarely! It is an oxymoron to only exercise Selflessness in personally convenient moments. If we wait to put others first when it is convenient, those moments may never come. That’s why Selflessness is hard.

It’s not convenient when:

• An employee shows up in your office with a problem while you are completing the report you had procrastinated doing.

• You are walking by a stranger standing in a doorway without an umbrella waiting for a break in the weather—and you have an umbrella to share.

• At a parents’ preseason basketball meeting, you realize nobody has volunteered to be an assistant coach.

Stepping forward in these moments would require us to work later, get us wet, or cause us to be out of the house at least two nights a week. What would you do in these situations? How often does the inconvenience of these situations make us rationalize our inaction?

At work or home, Leaders of Character consistently ignore what they want to do and put the needs of others first. They listen longer. They take the time to coach and develop others. They offer help without seeking anything in return. They serve others without expecting to be served.

The biggest challenge is the fact that exercising Selflessness is rarely convenient. This is why we commit to follow a selfless