The gift of giving
is perhaps one of the most important things you can do to get you closer to
achieving success. It's definitely important to focus your efforts on getting
to your goal, but the one problem with goal setting is that you tend to have a
"Me" focused attitude. You should focus on the gift of giving, and
find a way where you can add value to someone else. Zig Ziglar said it best:
"You can have everything you want in life if you will just help enough
other people get what they want."
If you want more
courage, use the gift of giving and find a way to encourage someone else. If
you want confidence, instill confidence in someone who needs it more. My mentor
told me a story about how one of his employees developed self-confidence by
simply instilling confidence in someone else. In this article, let's call him Amin.
When my mentor conducted a performance review, he discovered that Amin lacked the self-confidence to perform his role to the highest standards. He knew that Amin
had a great deal of potential, so he decided to help him build his self-esteem
and self-confidence.
My mentor knew
that pep talks and positive reinforcement were not enough for Amin to boost his
self-confidence. He knew that Amin would need to help someone else gain
confidence in himself before he could develop his own confidence. So he
encouraged Amin to spend some time with someone who lacked self-confidence. Amin
knew a friend who lacked confidence. Amin talked
to him and found out that he enjoyed rugby, but did not excel in it, so he didn't feel confident in himself. Amin excelled at rugby, so he decided to
coach his friend as his gift of giving. After spending time coaching him, Amin
noticed that his self-confidence grow dramatically. When Amin saw how
his friend grew in confidence right before his eyes, his own self-confidence
started to grow because he knew the value he was contributing to his friend's
life. Once his self-esteem and self-confidence expanded, my mentor mentioned
that his performance increased dramatically.
While it's important to stay focused on
your goals and doing everything you can in your power to achieve them, take a
step back once in a while and think about what area in your life you would like
to develop. Then find someone who needs it more, and helps that person develop
in that area. Through that gift of giving, you will see yourself making
improvements in that area without even thinking about. Just remember what Zig
Ziglar said about helping enough people get what they want first, and then you
can have anything you want.
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