Hey, good morning. Good evening. Greetings and salutations to all my good people who have tuned into this episode of the Hijack My Life podcast. Now, my name is Dr. Gene White Jr. And I help busy professionals find balance, handle stress, and reach their goals. Today I wanna talk briefly about the topic of being selfish versus being selfless. You see, selfishness and selflessness represent two extremes of human behavior. Now they both have their own advantages. Um, they have their own disadvantages, and they can significantly influence personal growth. Now, it’s important to note that these aren’t black and white categories, but they rather exist on a spectrum of behavior. Where most people fall is somewhere in between those two extremes. So let’s start with selfishness. Now this term carries a negative connotation generally and is often associated with the prioritization of one’s own needs, desires, and well over others. However, when you view it from a different angle, selfishness can be a form of self-preservation and also self-care. Depending on your background, your morals and your values, you could be operating under the assumption that being selfish is not okay, and that you need to make sure that you’re always being considerate of others and considerate of their feelings. But I ask this question, so to what extent now I submit that sometimes you have to be selfish just to save yourself. But let’s look at these terms, both positive and negative, and we’ll look at the perspectives of each. Now, for positive aspects of selfishness, selfishness can allow individuals to prioritize their own needs, which can lead to better self-care. Now this can include focusing on one’s own physical and mental health, um, also pursuing personal interests and developing new skills. By focusing on personal growth and self-improvement, individuals can be more competent. They can become more independent. Being selfish can sometimes also be necessary to establish personal boundaries. This can prevent others from taking advantage of you, um, abusing your time, your energy, and your resources. Now, selfishness can also have negative consequences. Excessive selfishness can lead to strained relationships as it can cause others to feel unappreciated. Um, they can also feel neglected. And when you are operating excessively in selfish selfishness, uh, it can hinder your personal growth and it can lead to a lack of social support and it can potentially create conflict. Selfishness also can result in a lack of empathy for others. Right. When you experience this, you inhibit your personal growth by preventing the development of important social skills and understanding. Now, if we’re taking a look at the other end of the spectrum, selflessness is often associated with altruism and it’s generally seen as a virtue. Now it involves prioritizing your own needs and desires over somebody else’s and positively selflessness. It can include, um, getting, having more strength relationships, and it demonstrates that you have care and consideration for others. Now, it could contribute to personal growth by fostering and a supportive social network, and you could, it’ll provide opportunities for collaboration. Now, another positive aspect about selflessness is that, Helping others can lead to feelings of fulfillment and happiness, and it can also promote. Personal growth by developing empathy and understanding. But if we are looking again from that different perspective, excessive selflessness can lead to the neglect of your own personal needs. It can hinder your own personal growth. You can have burnout, stress, and potentially you can have a decrease in your physical and your mental health. So these are negative aspects of being overly selfless. Also being overly selfless. It can sometimes lead to you feeling like you’re being taken care, uh, taken advantage of by others, which can cause resentment. Um, and it also may inhibit your own personal growth as well. Both selfishness and selflessness. They have their own positives and their negatives, right? So when we’re talking about personal growth, there’s you, you have to find a balance. Now this balance, it allows for the prioritization of your personal needs and self-care, while also considering and respecting the needs and the feelings of others. This balance can lead to improved relationships, increased empathy. Ultimately, you get more substantial personal growth by finding this balance. I have more to come. But I’m curious, what are your thoughts on today’s topic? Now, I myself, I’ve been wrestling with this topic for a few years now, and I’m finding more and more ways to kind of deal with it. And I’m finding out more about myself as I grow each and every day. Now, I recently heard something about Myron Golden that was talking about wealth, and he said that money is not wealth. And I thought, okay, so. He said that wealth is equal to the value that you can create for someone else other than you. Now, I was thinking about this and it was a great video. I’ll put the link down into the show notes and also the link down at the bottom of this video. Now, after hearing this, I immediately thought about this quote that I heard once before, and actually, I mean multiple times. It’s a quote by Zig Ziglar that says that you can have everything in life that you want if you would just help other people get what they want. And this aligns with the concept of selflessness from this topic and its potential positive impact on personal growth. Now, this quote suggests that by prioritizing the needs and the desires of others, individuals can ultimately achieve their own goals and desires. It highlights the interconnected nature of human relationships and the idea that by assisting others in achieving their aspirations, then we as individuals can also create an environment of reciprocity and also support. So when we think about this from a personal growth perspective, this quote emphasizes the importance of empathy. Um, it also emphasizes collaboration and building strong relationships. So, I want to talk about how this quote relates to the topic of selfishness versus, uh, selflessness and personal growth. Number one, it fosters relationships by helping others to get what they want. Then individuals are investing in meaningful connections. Now, this can contribute to personal growth by creating a supportive network that can provide opportunities, that can provide guidance, and also emotional support. Number two. Developing empathy, so to effectively help others achieve their goals, individuals must understand that when they emphasize with their needs and desires, they are creating empathy. They’re, they’re displaying empathy. And cultivating empathy is an essential aspect of personal growth as it enhances emotional intelligence and it promotes better understanding of others. Number three, expanding perspectives. Now helping others exposes individuals to different perspectives, challenges, and experiences. Now this exposure can broaden one’s horizons and also facilitate personal growth by encouraging openness, adaptability, and the acquisition of new knowledge and skills. Number four, creating a positive ripple effect. Now when individuals assist others in achieving their goals, it often causes a positive effect, ripple. And this can inspire guidance, reciprocation, a sense of purpose, and all of these that contribute to personal growth and overall life satisfaction. Now, it’s important to note that this quote should be interpreted with a balanced framework. Now while helping others is valuable, it’s also crucial to ensure that personal needs and boundaries should still be respected. So striking a balance between selflessness and self-care allows for us to have sustainable personal growth, and it prevents potential negative consequences of neglecting yourself. So what am I saying now? Zig Ziglar’s quote encourages in individuals to embrace selflessness by assisting others in achieving their aspirations. Now, by doing so, people can foster relationships. They can develop empathy, and they can expand their perspectives. They can create a positive ripple effect. Now, this aligns with the positive aspects of selflessness that we, um, discussed earlier, and it also demonstrates how prioritizing the needs of others can contribute to personal growth. Now, as I mentioned earlier, I’m on a mission to help busy professionals. Find balance, handle stress, and reach their goals. So if you identify as a person who falls into this spectrum and then you would like to dig a little deeper into how we can get better together, then come find me@hijackmylife.com and then click on the one-on-one coaching tab. Now. From there, you’ll have the opportunity to book a one hour discovery session with me, and we can take that deep dive into what will help you to achieve your goals. The call is, Complimentary. Um, and I’m looking forward to working with you, but for now, I just want to thank you for tuning into this episode of the show, and I hope it was valuable to you. Now, if you indeed did find value, then I want you to go ahead and please share this show with somebody this week, and then also help us to grow this community now. As I’ve always said in past episodes, remember that in this life, we cannot progress unless we process the person that we are and implement the knowledge, skills, and abilities that transform us into the person that we want to be. I want to thank you for taking your time to spend a little time with me and I truly appreciate it and I hope to speak to you again on the next episode of The Hijack My Life Podcast peace.