What is the Secret of Living?
“The Secret Of Living is Giving” — Tony Robbins
Oh Great. Another article telling me to be more grateful and to love people. You’re half right. You’ve already heard that giving can provide purpose, increase happiness, and creativity. Yet in a world where we are spending most of the day with our heads focused on me, me, me, it may be hard to internalize this concept. Yet if you can develop giving into a consistent system, it will be the number one key to your success. Here’s why:
In an effort to build good habit maybe, this year, you decide to join a gym, start waking up early, and actually being on time instead of “fashionably late.” Yet if you don’t build the system of giving, the glass ceiling to your success will be infinitely low. Ever notice how people that give seem to be happier? As a species, we can almost solely attribute the longevity of our survival to our communication and collaboration. If collaborating and giving didn’t biologically feel good, we would never do it and would’ve been wiped out long ago.
That’s why every time you give, your brain release a dopamine. The amount varies based on a variety of factors (who you are giving to, scale of the act, intention, etc.). If you multiply this across an entire year, it makes for a huge shift in daily compounding dopamine levels and, consequently, your focus and happiness.
Putting the Odds in Your Favor
By committing to give a little bit each day, you are putting yourself into a mental state of constant awareness of other people’s needs. While this might require some conscious effort at first, eventually it will become automatic. Being attuned to what others want would not only help in dealing with people, but also significantly increases the chances of your personal success.
Most of the time, what’s standing between you and what you want is someone else; a gatekeeper with their own desires and intentions. By being in a state of giving you are exponentially increasing the amount of positive interactions you have. You are increasing the amount of people you meet, the amount of times you are on someone else’s mind, and general positivity about your overall reputation. While these events alone may not do much, the compounding effect they can have is tremendous.
How Do I Start?
When most people think of giving, their minds instantly think of volunteering their time, giving to charity, etc. While these feats of altruism are great, the habit giving must be implemented on a much more systematic basis. To get into the system of giving and training your awareness, you don’t need to look very far to change the world that’s right in front of you. Look at people at the people in your life.
What do they need?
How can you help?
What can you do?
Unlock Your Potential
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