For this blog article I’d like to explore John C. Maxwell’s definition of what it means to be successful. In one of his books, John Maxwell teaches that success is “knowing your purpose in life, growing to reach your maximum potential, and sowing seeds that benefit others”. I think this is a powerful message and that there is truth to it. What especially resonates with me is the idea of sowing seeds that benefit others, and that is going to be the focus of this article.

Supporting Other People

As a volunteer leader for my Toastmasters club and district, I am actively working to support my fellow club members and the members of my district. To do this effectively, I strive to keep a servant-leadership mindset, meaning I am serving as a club and district officer to support my fellow members, not to have power or authority over them.

I am ambitious, and I want to move up the ranks and serve as District Director, which is the highest level of leadership in my district. I admit that doing so will make me feel important, but ultimately I want to serve and support my fellow district members by doing so. By serving at the highest leadership level I can sow seeds that impact people across my district, and that can lead to success for both me and my district.

I can sow seeds that lead to success by actively working to help my fellow members identify and achieve their goals. I can also work to encourage my fellow members to step into leadership roles themselves. This will help them to gain confidence and new skills. It may also help them to learn how satisfying it is to be in a leadership role with a focus on supporting other people.

Supporting other people can give you meaning and purpose in life, and it can lead to success both for you and the people you support. And I have found that when you make an effort to support other people, they may in turn support you when you need help.

Knowing My Purpose

I know my purpose as a leader for my Toastmasters club and district. It is to serve my fellow club members and to help them achieve their goals. It is also to inspire my fellow members to step into leadership roles themselves.

I also know my purpose outside of Toastmasters, and that is to serve the company I work for. As a software developer, I serve the company I work for by troubleshooting software issues, maintaining existing software projects, and helping to add new features to existing software projects. I also work to support my coworkers when they need help, such as assisting them to resolve a bug in their test environment or to help them to understand a piece of software.

I am not in a leadership position at work, but I can still be a servant leader by working to support my coworkers and by doing a good job with my programming tasks. Servant leadership is a mindset, and you can apply it to everything you do. Adopting this mindset will help you to sow the seeds that benefit others, and it can lead you to shared success with the people you are supporting.

Conclusion

As John Maxwell teaches, sowing the seeds to benefit others is a great way to grow as a leader and to achieve success in your life. It is especially important to maintain a servant leader mindset and to take on leadership roles to help people, not to have power or authority over them. In fact, when serving as a leader, either at work or in your community, your focus should be on supporting other people and being someone they can turn to for help. This will lead to success not just for you, but for your team as well.