I have been involved in athletics most of my life. I played, coached, or served as an administrator for over fifty years at every level of competition. What I learned over my time in the world of athletics is that successful coaches, on and off the field, win or lose, are the ones who believed every player had value. The word value is defined as; to consider with respect to worth, excellence, usefulness, or importance. The coaches who make the greatest impact in the lives of their players often never win a state championship or become a head coach. To gauge the success of a coach solely off their win/loss record is shallow and misses the mark why people choose to become a coach to begin with. No doubt, coaches want to win a state championship, but the reality is most coaches will not. The value added always outweighs the wins because value lasts a lifetime, wins don’t.

I’m no longer involved in athletics, and I have not missed it for a second. My career today has nothing to do with baseball fields or coaching strategies, but it still has everything to do with finding value in others. Value is an action word. I believe that finding value in others begins with me. If I want to be valuable to others, then I should first seek and find value in others. It’s there, I just have to take the time and initiative to discover it in others – and then encourage it. I learned that lesson the hard way. It was a bit of a shock when I learned the world did not revolve around me.

Life seems, at least for me on this day, to make more sense when I put others first. I don’t believe that type of selfless attitude comes without a dose of humility along the way, and I’ve had plenty. I hope to treat everyone with value, whether they can help me look good or not.

Determining the value of others based on what they can do for me is selfish and conditional. I love and value my grandkids, but it has absolutely nothing to do with what they can do for me.

I have yet to “arrive” in life, and there is much I may never understand, so I have stopped trying to figure it all out. All this nonsense about “living your best life” is making me ill. Simplicity is my goal; I’m doing the best I can. In that effort, I try to add value to at least one person a day, be it through words or actions. Some days I’m really good at doing that, other days not so much, but I plan to keep trying.

“Adding value to others is the surest way to add value to our own lives.”

– John Maxwell

Nobody wants to feel unimportant, useless, or inferior. Unbelievably, we all have the power to flip that script by simply adding value to others. It works both ways, the more we give, the more we get.

Someone in your life has made you feel important; Someone has told you to hang in there because you are worth it; Someone has told you that God is going to use you in a special way; If not, then I am telling you that right now. Believe it, because it is true, so pass it on and be that valuable someone in the life of another.

Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?

-The Good Book

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Todd Howey is a columnist for BrownwoodNews.com whose articles appear on Fridays. Email comments to [email protected].