Helping Others to Help Ourselves to Success

This will be my final post about the Boston Marathon this year.  It's not often that I have several posts about a race that I didn't even run.  Yesterday, I talked about grit--how it influences our ability to finish marathons and do well at work.  Today, I want to comment on an article I read.  This Runners World article talked about all the hormones that get released when we help someone: endorphins, dopamine, and serotonin.  While Des (the women's winner) probably needed the endorphins in the marathon, not many of us will need to overcome pain during the average work day.  However, anyone at work can use dopamine that increases "motivation and focus" and serotonin that "boosts...mood" .  I know that in my workplace the fact that the "brain releases oxytocin when you feel a bond with another person" that can  help me  to "focus on the bigger picture," is also useful. 

Thinking of these three hormones together, I now have a new answer when people give me kudos for all the time I spend with and helping students,  I won't deny that the compliment makes me feel good.  But, whether I receive a compliment or not, the science of  helping suggests that just helping can make me feel good and gives me what I need to do the rest of my job even better.  This raises the question--if I need those shots of hormones each day to be the best I can, should I, then, try to schedule some "helping others" time each day?  Should I try to train myself to think of more of my daily activities as "being helpful" to others?  In summary, how do I use the science of helping others to inform how I structure my days, my weeks, and my years to provide a flow of all the helpful hormones to keep myself going at my best?