Be the First to Help
If you want happiness for an hour – take a nap.
If you want happiness for a day – go fishing.
If you want happiness for a month – get married.
If you want happiness for a year – inherit a fortune.
If you want happiness for a lifetime – help someone else.
–Chinese Proverb
At the risk of sounding like I’m a paid blogger for John Maxwell, I’d like to again return to one of his books previously mentioned, 25 Ways to Win with People. Specifically, one of the ways in the book, “Be the First to Help”. I found this after going through the book to do research for Invest and Invite and immediately knew I had to blog on it. It’s something I struggle with on a daily basis. I seem to be so attuned to my personal needs or focused on the task at hand that I will forget to do something as simple as offering someone something to drink. The author breaks it down into four simple points to be successful at being the first to help that I will comment on.
Make Helping Others a Priority. The first point in the book is the strongest for me personally. I need to have a notepad that has this point stamped at the top of every page so that I remember this on a daily basis.
Make Yourself Aware of People’s Needs. This is something that I really think comes natural to everyone. At some point in their lives though, they put this natural ability into the back of their head and forget it. If you make helping others a priority, I don’t think this point will be a challenge.
Be Willing to Take a Risk. The book makes the point that sometimes helping others may actually hurt you, such as helping someone in a competition in which you are a competitor. This is, in my opinion, one of the best situations to help someone, because it really shows them you aren’t helping to gain anything.
Follow Through Once You Begin to Help. Of course, to counter the last point, not following through once you begin or promise to help is one of the worst ways you can help someone. They think less of you, and everything you represent. The goal, of course, is to be the hands and feet of Jesus.
I really like this book because not only does it break Winning with People down into 25 different ways, it also sums everything up at the end of every chapter. An excellent book to use as a resource later down the road.
