Edition #9 | Stewardship, Significance, and Serving Others

For a long time, the inner work I was doing on myself was about myself. My growth, my discipline, my progress. All of it good, and all of it still mostly about me. Somewhere along the way, the question changed. It stopped being how do I become a better man and started becoming how can my life become a source of good for the people around me?

That shift is the fifth pillar, Contribution, and the virtue underneath it is stewardship. Stewardship starts with a change in how you see what you have. My time, my influence, the lessons I learned the hard way—none of it is really mine to hoard. It was entrusted to me, to use for someone else’s good.

It also changed what I was chasing. For years I confused success with significance. But a man can be successful and still not be significant to a single person who actually knows him. Significance is not what I accumulate or how many real estate deals I close. It is whether the people around me are better off because I was here.

Here is the part I do not want you to miss. Contribution starts at home. The first people to benefit when a father gets steadier and more present are those under his roof. A calmer home is contribution. It doesn’t always look like building something with your name on it. Home first. Everyone else second.

Read: When Your Life Becomes a Gift

This week’s article goes deeper into how the work starts at home and then, once you are grounded, begins to pour outward.

Here is what I will leave you with this Saturday. Look for one place your own hard-won growth could serve someone else this week—a younger dad, a friend who is drifting, a conversation you could have. You don’t have to have it all figured out. None of us do. You just have to be honest about what you are learning.

Still learning this alongside you,

Scott