Serve, with all your might

One day a former Boss of mine (who is still and will always be a mentor), gave me an iPad to go fix and he gave strict instructions highlighting the task as a very important one. He didn't stop there, he closely monitored the update while I was out getting it fixed. 

I would have wondered why this seemed very important to him, but he already gave the details that the iPad belonged to his Mentor and his Mentor needs to travel with it in a few hours. His mentor had considered him a reliable person to get this done within a strict time restriction.

It's funny because my Boss had bigger business issues to handle. And of course, he could have literally just bought another iPad for his mentor without batting an eyelid, which would have been much easier that day, but that was not the ask. He had to serve his mentor by delivering what was requested of him.

Needless to say, I accomplished the task with so much focus and was delighted that I was found worthy to serve. Yes, it wasn't part of my job description and I could have declined it but I didn't because in this case, my Boss is also a mentor to me so I also had to serve. 

You can never be too big to serve. No matter how big you have become, even if you become bigger than your mentors, they were instrumental in getting you to where you are and they will continue to be instrumental to you. Except when a mentor renders themselves irrelevant by their actions or unexpected change. 

If you are too big to serve, then you are too big to lead. 

This is probably why I enjoy my current role as a Scrum Master, where you only lead a team without a position but by serving the team. Helping them remove impediments and resolve issues. It's a life of selflessness to just focus on helping others achieve their goals. 

Some people think only people that lack vision serve others that have a vision. But it's the other way round, people with vision are always eager to be of service because they know the best way to learn from their mentors is not just to listen it's to serve. 

It might sometime feel like you are not living your own life, but if you understand that the focus of highly successful businesses is to serve others, and they only get paid for serving people. You'd pick up your slack and start serving immediately. 

However, not all service is rewarded with money. But one thing is always sure, service is always a seed, the way you serve others is how you will be served as well. But don't try to serve everyone, only service where you believe your life goal is aligned. 

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