What are we serving? What do we really want to be in service of?

When we do what we do, each day, each week, month to month, what are we acting in service of? 

While the word serving always makes me think of food and shopping, we are always serving something, sometimes more than one thing at a time. 

In exercising we may be serving our health as well as a longer-term fitness goal, like running a marathon. 

In our work we are serving the thing we are working on and who it is for, whether it be a company, a customer, another colleague, or all of these. At the same time, in some way we are serving ourselves, maybe the work is something we care deeply about and we are serving a cause that is important to us, in being paid for our work we are serving our financial needs, which could be serving longer-term aspirations like a specific lifestyle or experience.

So who or what are the customers we are serving in how we live and lead in our lives? 

What are we serving in how we live and lead day-to-day?

How does that compare to what really matters to us, to what we really want and value and who we want to be? 

What may we be serving when we think we’re actually serving something that matters to us?

How might we do the same thing and be serving totally different things? 

For example, for me as a particularly busy period comes to a close I notice thinking about what idea or project I’d like to pursue next. In truth, what this is really serving is a fear of not being busy, which often arises at the precipice of busy-ness. While these are ideas or projects I’d still love to serve, because I know that in the coming months I don’t have the conditions (nor the ability to create the conditions) I would really want to truly serve the ideas I want to pursue, I know that in pursuing them I am not really  going to be serving them. 

How do we balance what we are serving now for what we seek to serve long-term?

What are the conditions we really need to truly serve what we want to serve? 

And in what we serve and how we are serving, how much are we serving us? 

For we cannot serve from an empty cup (much easier written than done). 

So what are you serving in what you do and how you do it?

How does that compare to what you really want to serve? 

What would it look like to be in service of what really matters for you in all that you do?

What would it be for us to all be in service of what really matters to us in all that we do?