Sustainable You: 8 First Steps to Lasting Change in Business and in Life

Individuals, companies, nations, entire species - not an entity on the planet couldn't gain from a greater ability to sustain itself.

To judge that thought for yourself, make a list of all those that haven't achieved sustainability and they will have at least one thing in common: They're all gone. Wouldn't you rather be around, and in position to take full advantage of it?

The key to boosting our "personal sustainability" is to recognize how we connect to those around us - at work, in community, in the world. Even if many don't know it, even if some would deny it, we are in several ways parts of a whole, tying our fates together.

For example, if everyone at work acknowledges and fulfills their role, a success greater than any one person is the certain result. The most reliable way to ensure that happens in your circles is to do your part. Not only will your efforts contribute to a greater whole, but your actions could influence others to do the same. Not doing that can influence in the other direction, too, of course.

The crux of this approach is that healthy self-interest is the only motivation needed to move toward it. If others will benefit, fine, but our goal is no more than to sustain ourselves. Notice that is different from gratifying oneself.

So how does you move toward sustaining yourself? By factoring this question - "Will this choice enhance or hinder my long-term prospects?" - into more of your decisions, even mundane ones such as which products to buy at the market.

That needn't be your only standard, because life is spiced by spontaneity, enjoyment, and whimsy. But too often, it has been nobody's standard, and one certainty of our existence is that we experience the outcomes of our choices.

Should you be questioning the morality of self-interest as a guiding principle, fear not. Each one of us who works to sustain ourselves simultaneously makes the world more sustainable, and that's not coincidental.

We are all connected, we are all parts of the whole.