— Jeff Bezos
Yesterday, today, and all of your tomorrow’s pose the same question…
Will you choose to “consume,” or will you choose to “create?”
Therefore, why not view your life, career and company as a platform for giving…for intentional acts of generosity…for creating value for others?
To build a meaningful life…you must replace the pursuit of consumption and materialism with the pursuit and creation of value, contribution, caring and generosity.
For this to occur, the critical question must move from…
“How can I get more, consume more, and become more successful?”
to…
“What can I create and contribute that will significantly impact the mission, performance, and overall results of the people I serve?”
For this to occur, the critical question must move from…
“How can I get more, consume more, and become more successful?”
to…
“What can I create and contribute that will significantly impact the mission, performance, and overall results of the people I serve?”
By focusing on what you can create and contribute…by expanding your capacity to care and give freely…you automatically become successful.
The focus on value creation, on contribution and caring places a premium on responsibility. As the driver of effectiveness…your creations and contributions to others allow you to do well by doing good.
This is only accomplished by looking outward from your daily workload and upward towards more noble goals and objectives.
When you begin to focus your energies on the value you can create and how you can contribute…it dramatically affects the quality, content and impact of your work.
Your standards, reputation and credibility rise…as do the size, scope and magnitude of new opportunities.
Your relationship with others takes on new meaning and your presence is welcomed wherever you travel.
GOOD QUESTIONS. GREAT ANSWERS.
Questions direct thinking, stimulate innovation, and unlock ideas which in turn impacts your actions and overall results.
• What justifies your existence?
• Why are you on the payroll?
• What are you called to do with the gifts and time you are given?
• What can you do which, if done really well, would make a real difference?
When you change your questions and intentions from getting to giving, from consuming to creating…a boomerang effect that takes place in your life as whenever you give through creations and contributions, your rewards come back multiplied.
Huh?
You see…everything in life wishes to reward its contributor, its value creator.
In fact, everything you create and each contribution you make turns you into a benefactor, allowing you to enjoy the fruits of your contributions.
• By nurturing the seeds and contributing to the garden…the flowers reward you by blooming with bright, vibrant and beautiful colors.
• By contributing to your children’s education…they reward you by becoming responsible, disciplined and productive members of society.
• By adding value and contributing to your client’s best interests…they reward you with loyalty, referrals and ongoing prosperity.
• By contributing to your retirement fund…it rewards you with both peace of mind, along with an enjoyable and dignified final chapter of your life.
• By contributing to the health and well being of your body through exercise and nutrition…it rewards you with responsiveness, flexibility, longevity and optimal performance.
Those who give big by creating value and contributing their time, talents, networks, and personal experience will ALWAYS be rewarded.
The most basic human need that we all have is to matter, to make a difference.
At an intuitive, gut level we know that each one of us has our very own unique contributions to make in life.
Creating value and making a difference where you live, work, go to school, and play must be where you focus your greatest contributions.
MAKING COMMON SENSE COMMON PRACTICE
This create more than you consume axiom might seem rather simple and obvious to you, however the truth is…
Throughout history, the great majority of people never had to ask the question…“What value can I create and how should I contribute?”
People were told what to do, and their specific tasks were dictated by the work itself.
The good news is that there is no return to the old way of doing what you are told or assigned to do.
That’s why each one of us must learn to discipline our minds and begin to ask a question that we have not been trained to ask before:
What value can I create and how can I make the greatest contribution?
To answer it confidently, you must address three distinct elements:
• What does the situation require?
• Given my strengths, my way of performing, and my values, how can I make the greatest contribution to what needs to be done?
• What results have to be achieved to make an obvious difference?
Your contributions will become a larger part of your life’s body of work. They will help lay the foundation for some of the greatest feats, innovations and performances the world has ever seen.
The definition of a successful life must include the creation of value and a sincere contribution into the lives of other people.
The people worthy of emulation are those who, day to day, moment to moment enrich our lives. Their contribution, their imprint upon our lives is enduring and indelible.
A meaningful life requires meaningful, generous contributions, and to focus on creating meaningful, generous contributions…is to focus on creating a meaningful life.
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