summary ofIt’s Not About YouBook by Tom Rath

first KEY POINT

Dedicate yourself to helping others

Heavy advertising demands that we be happy, while the digital age commands us to dive headfirst into self-indulgence. We try to have the world revolve around ourselves, assuming that this is the ultimate meaning of life. Tom Rath disagrees with this line of thought. He believes that life becomes truly meaningful when we shift the focus from our personalities to doing good for other people.

Helping other people indeed takes the energy away from you, but it can also be rewarding. Every time you have an emotional exchange with a person, you will get something in return. How can you disarm an angry person and have them rethink their attitude? You are right; all you need to do is smile at them first! Showing empathy and helping others have the same effect. You might wonder where to start. If there’s someone who needs your help, ask yourself, “What can I do for this person?”We never know how much time we have to live. To some, death comes as a dear redeemer. Others fall into her prison all of a sudden. However, while you are still here, use your time, energy, and other resources to make something worthy for others. Your good deeds have the potential to live on even after you are gone. Helping others is our way of living forever. Nothing else can compare to being as rewarding as helping others before we die.

Even if you want to make others' lives better, you might feel lost thinking about where to start. Here are three steps that will help you focus on something more important than yourself. Tom Rath names these steps as:Step 1. Overcome yourself.Step 2. Dedicate yourself to significant others.Step 3. Focus on what's left after you are gone.This summary will help you learn how to let go of the things you cannot control so that they don't take up all of your life. Moreover, you will realize that the bulk of our problems comes from the self's sharp power. Without it, we can become stronger.