What are you doing to add value in the lives of others?

“Try not to become a man of success, but rather a man of value.” — Albert Einstein

I like to tell people that my goal in life is to become a “difference maker”. The pastor, author, speaker, and leadership guru, James C. Maxwell wrote a whole book called “The Difference Maker”. The idea, he says, is that your attitude really defines who you are to both yourself as well as others. The value you offer others, the positive attitude you provide others with defines your value. In the words of Simon Sinek, that is my personal “why”. Why I do what I do is because I want to help empower people to become more successful in their personal and professional lives. How I do it is the embodiment of my “why” and what I do is just a title and who I work for day-to-day.

James Maxwell also wrote a book called “Make Today Count”, and ever since I read that book years ago, my mantra in life in fact is how am I going to make today count. How am I going to provide value today? But what does it mean to have value in our lives? How is value being defined? Who are we giving value to?

There’s a great story about a student that approached a very pious, religious teacher and asked him what it meant to be a “chassid”. His response was that a chassid is akin to a Lamplighter. Way before there was electricity, a Lamplighter was a person who would walk the streets with a pole that had a fire at the end and he’d literally light each lamp in the street. The religious man said that a chassid’s job is to go around lighting the souls of others — essentially, giving them value through their own education, experience, and positive attitude. The student looked at his teacher and said that he couldn’t “see” the lamps in the streets. His response was wonderful: he said it was because he was not a Lamplighter. But we can all strive to becoming one by refining oneself and removing the bad and sourness within ourselves. Only then can one “see the lamps” in others. It’s a beautiful story about understanding the value we see in ourselves and the value we can give to others. This how we make today count and this how we become a difference maker. In essence, do we, in our own lives, lights sparks or are we the diminishing flames in others?

The Dalai Lama has said that “violence begets more violence”. This view is based upon the belief in karma — that what you do has a spiritual, physical, and psychological impact upon others. Similarly, trying to solve hatred with more hatred only leads to more hatred and more conflict. If we surround ourselves with others who are spewing negativity, it will only eat at your positivity. Your capacity to do good things; your capacity to inspire your capacity to build people up; to earn trust is hindered because it has a deteriorating impact upon you. Logically, if we therefore surround ourselves with those who are lifting people up, adding value, inspiring others, teaching others, mentoring others then this will likewise have a lasting and positive impact upon you, which you can then provide to others as well. You become a Lamplighter. You become a difference maker. You’re adding value.

Martin Luther King, Jr. once said that “if a man is called to be a streetsweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great streetsweeper who did his job well.” What do we learn from this excerpt from his sermon? We learn that to be the best at whatever you do, you learned how to master a blessed life. You become a Lamplighter. You become a difference maker. You’re adding value.

So the question becomes this: is it part of your “why” in your own life to be a Lamplighter; to add value to yourself and others around you? Have you made it part of what David Allen calls your 50,000 foot view in your life? If not, why not? Are you even thinking about how to rid yourself of negativity and the impact your attitude has on others every time you have a human interaction both at work and at home? If not, why not?

The simple truth is this — the world needs more positivity. The world needs more love. The world needs more people who define the value of their life not by the dollar value on their paychecks, but rather by the value they are providing others. The world needs more people who desire to be Lamplighters. We can all do more, be more, and find ways to bettering ourselves, which really, truly does in turn better others. That is how you become the difference maker. That is how we define value in our lives.