Archive for category generosity
Are You Giving Away Your Money
Posted by DaveOlson in entrepreneur, generosity on Nov 01, 2007
I really wanted to come back to the whole concept of generosity today.
Sowing and reaping. Law of Attraction etc…
Alex asked why people serve, but I’m wondering about what drives generosity in people.
Several months ago I started supporting Kiva.org. In fact we even ran a contest here and I ended up giving away three gift certificates. Jonathan-C Phillips got on the bandwagon as well as many others. Since that time, I’ve continued to support Kiva as you can see from the sidebar. In fact our church has been supporting Kiva for quite a while now too.
Since I gave my first loan to Kiva, the first entrepreneur has already paid back one loan. That’s exciting to me.
The last few times I’ve been at the kiva.org website, there haven’t been many entrepreneurs to lend to. The reason: Oprah Winfrey and Bill Clinton have featured the organization in books and on television. As a result of the exposure, lot’s of people have gotten involved.
My question is this: Why? Did they suddenly become generous because there was an opportunity? Or were people moved to generosity because someone said they should be?
Did Oprah and Bill Clinton (funny that the former president has to be identified by both first and last names) simply point out something that people were looking for? Or is it the power of personality?
My friend is headed to Sudan to provide some basic humanitarian aide. What would it take to get you to support him?
What moves you to be generous? What are the basic criteria you insist on in a charitable project? Let’s talk!
Service: Is It Really About Serving
Posted by DaveOlson in generosity, personal growth, relationships on Oct 28, 2007
Sometime ago fellow blogger Alex Shalman asked what I get out of serving. Since I’ve taking soo long to answer the question I figured I better have a really good response.
I’d like to be altruistic and super principled and say that serving is it’s own reward, however that’s not the complete picture. While serving others definitely leaves me feeling fulfilled there are other things at work.
Sowing and Reaping
One pretty important life principle to me is the law of sowing and reaping. (I know others may call it Karma or the Law of Attraction)There are returns to everything I do. If I’m building into other people’s lives then ultimately there will be a payback in my life. I don’t really serve for what I can get out of it but I know I will get something back.
I think this law plays out a lot in the blogverse. There are people that particularly demonstrate it. Three people that live this out most obviously to me are:
- Aaron Potts at personaldevelopmentpartners.com
- Liz Strauss at successful-blog.com
- Jonathan-C. Phillips at smartwealthyrich.com
These are friends who are constantly doing things for others and as a result, they themselves are benefiting. They don’t use people to get what they want. They genuinely devote themselves to seeing others succeed. They are great examples of the sowing and reaping principle.
Which leads me to the other benefit I get out of serving others.
FRIENDS and great connections.
’nuff said.
What’s your take? What do you get out of serving others? Why don’t we start a conversation in the comment section. Let’s talk!
How Closely Are You Willing To Examine Your Life
Posted by DaveOlson in generosity, goals, personal growth, relationships on Jul 02, 2007
The life which is unexamined is not worth living. — Plato (c. 428 – 348 B.C.)
What does it mean to have an examined life?
Do you regularily examine your life? I mean your life not just your goals or strategy.
I think there are times when we get so caught up in pursuing our goals that we completely forget about who we are. We have countless examples of people through out history who thought that the end justified the means.
And then there are some of us who carry bitterness, anger, resentment or even hatred without ever bothering to ask why. WHY?
I know there are times when I just feel angry and if I don’t ask myself why… if I don’t examine what’s going on… I end up taking it out on those closest to me. WHY?
Do we examine who we are and what our assumptions are? Do we ever take a good look at our character? If not, why not? Are we hiding things even from ourselves?
Unexamined!
The big question is how do you examine your own life? Phil Gerbyshak asks some great questions somewhat along these lines. What questions do you ask? When do you ask them and who else asks? Do you tell the truth?
Let’s talk about it!