Men who made significant changes in life are often behind the background; they do not promote themselves.

They look out for the interest of others, rather than their own selfish interest.

One such person is Edmund Halley, who worked closely with the popular scientist Isaac Newton.

Newton discovered the law of gravity, but people don’t know today that it was Edmund Halley that made people learn about Isaac Newton’s work.

Halley was not a self-promoter instead he was consumed in trying to make the discovery of Newton a success. Halley’s role in Newton’s idea prompted Newton to believe that his idea about mechanics and universal gravitation would be a success. After Newton formulated the idea, Halley, a major contributor, made sure that Newton’s work was published.

Today, we all know about Isaac Newton.

Men, who seek self-publicity, are those who are not playing a significant role to affect their world. Meanwhile, the world is seeking people who will do things differently.

Halley was more concerned about promoting what will change the world than his own interest. He wanted people to learn about Newton’s work than his own personal recognition.

If he had chosen personal recognition, someone else would have played his role in Newton’s life and no one would have remembered him.

But today, you can’t mention the works of Newton without referring to the man that made it happen.

What does it mean to be selfless?

A selfless person is someone who shows unselfish concern for contributing to the welfare of others. They are often in the background promoting the good cause they believe in, while, a self-promoting person is someone who is always conscious of his own identity.

Here are a few differences between a selfless person and a self-promoter:

Consideration

You will always be confronted by situations that require you to promote yourself or the goal of your team.

A self-promoter says “Me first” while a selfless person says “Others first”.

Believe in others

People who are selfless build up others rather than focus only on themselves. Selfless promoters enjoy seeing others succeed while they are succeeding, while, self-promoters are just concerned about themselves alone moving up.

Information

Self-promoters guard information for selfish reasons. They want to appear as “relevant” so they refuse to give useful information to others. Selfless promoters share information with people around them.

Credit

Self-promoting people want to take all the credit. At the completion of any project they want to be the only one to take the credit instead of the team. While Selfless people always credit the team. They are sometimes not concerned about the credit, but the success of the project.

Dealing with people

Selfless people motivate others to success. Selfish promoters manipulate people; they are men of double standards and cannot be trusted.

Blame

Self-promoting people pass blame on others; they never take responsibility for any misfortune. Meanwhile, selfless people share the blames. They sometimes act as the sacrificial lamb when something goes wrong.

Tim Sanders was of this view: “There are plenty resources, credits and opportunities to go round.” If people believe this they will not be self-promoters.