Have you done anything lately to help make someone’s life easier, and happier? If not – why not? Helping others succeed in life tears down barriers in your road ahead, and makes your path to success in life a smoother trail to travel.

As a teenager (probably starting when I was 14 really) I thought I was smarter than my Mom and Dad, and my teachers. I thought I knew everything there was to know.

Wow – did I ever have a rude awakening coming to me.

Because I knew everything (at least in my own mind) I got very rebellious. I decided that I didn’t have to do anything I didn’t want to do.

Thinking that way cost me a lot. Let me tell you why.

I got an attitude!

Now an attitude can be either good, or bad. It’s something that every one of us actually has. But the attitude that I adopted was of a bad kind.

I decided I knew everything there was to know. And I decided that no one knew as much as I did. And, since that was obvious (to me anyway), nobody could tell me what to do.

Zig Zigler says if you help others to get what they want they’ll help you get what you want. The opposite to that (and equally true) is that when you don’t allow people to get the things they want, they’ll do everything in their power to make sure you don’t get anything you want.

In essence, you make a new enemy every time you deny someone the things they want for their life. You also make yourself look smaller to all the people around you.

When I got rebellious I took respect and love away from my parents and my teachers. I wasn’t helping others to move toward their success in life. Because of that they decided not to let me do things I wanted to do.

In school it meant that I stayed after class sometimes. Other times I made trips to the principle’s office (never a fun thing to do). And other times teachers gave me extra homework as punishment for my evil deeds.

I always liked spending a lot of time outdoors. Most especially I’m nuts about most things to do with being in, or around water. When teachers made me stay after school, or gave me extra homework, it meant that I had less time to spend outdoors. School was during the time of year when I went hunting and ice-skating after school, and on off school days.

So during those school years I hurt myself because my attitude kept me from the hunting and skating that I enjoyed.

But I hurt myself even more at home.

You see my parents grounded me, and that punishment lasted year-round. They wouldn’t let me go hunting, or ice-skating. But they also wouldn’t let me go swimming, camping, or fishing in the summer.

I lost the respect of other too. I didn’t realize until later that most people didn’t like me just because of how they saw me acting. And simply because of that they wanted to see me fail to do the things I enjoyed. Only because of what they thought of me.

Boy, I really made myself miserable during that time.

But you know I finally straightened up and realized that I actually didn’t know everything. And I came to understand that my parents didn’t know everything either.

Because nobody ever knows everything there is to know. Remember you’re always in school. And that’s true for your parents, and your grandparents – and everybody else in this world. You never stop learning.

When you recognize another person’s need, and you have an ability to fill that need, help that person out. Jump on every opportunity you get to ease somebody else’s burden. The act of helping others walk an easier road through their lives has a habit of coming back to smooth your path. Success in life is something you must share. You can’t just say, “The heck with everybody else. Who cares what they want?”