Career Mission's Chief Executive Officer, A. Harrison Barnes, in a webinar discussed the importance of self-help which essentially means to help others.

Self-help books and self-improvement seminars usually talk about the fact that people need to take charge of themselves in order to improve their lives. This is an important piece of advice and not following through, it is unlikely that you will ever reach your potential. However, Harrison believes that familiarizing yourself with the principles of self-improvement can help you to succeed only for a short while. If you wish to experience consistent and long term success, a completely different set of skills become necessary. According to him, real self-improvement and self-development has nothing to do with you. In fact, the people who really end up succeeding in their work are usually those who believe that becoming better means discovering what ‘others’ want, helping ‘others’ create big goals and believe in themselves, assisting ‘others’ to move on when they fail and so on. Far too many people reach nowhere near to their goals because they fail to understand the basics of real self-improvement.

Ignoring other’s needs is a huge epidemic in our society and a dangerous thing which can crush your chances to succeed. Your goals and aspirations need to be far greater than focusing solely on your needs. You need to understand that whatever you are seeking in your life, you will only find when you are working to fulfill the goals and aspirations of others. Usually, people lose their jobs because they are not focused on the employer’s needs; employers go out of business because they are not focused on other’s needs; and so on.

In conclusion, Harrison states that the key to your success lies in understanding the fact that ‘Nothing you do in your life is about you. You simply cannot succeed in your life if you believe it is all about you. It is never about you and never will be about you.’ The self-improvement you seek starts with helping others. It is only when you begin to provide value, help and support to others that this act will provide you with more spiritual, psychological, financial and other benefits than any other self-improvement concept out there.