Give Your Way to Success. Think about that for a moment. Let it run around your mind for a bit. Giving your way to success might sound a little counterintuitive based on the “give me,” and “me first” society we live in today. It might even be different from what you are seeing in the “real world” of business right now.

But let go of those images for a moment and think about how great it would be if that was possible. You could give first…and then success would follow. You could give your talents, passions, gifts and skill…only to receive that back ten-fold. Wow.

Well what I am about to tell you is this concept is not only for real…but it is how the world works! The problem with many of us is we have failed to see it. And by missing this critical component, the world seems hell-bent on “taking” what we want away from us.

Famous speaker, author, and trainer Zig Ziglar said you could have anything you want in life if you help enough other people get what they want. As is usually the case with things Zig said, it’s true! Like me, maybe you have heard of this before but was not sure how it applied to you. How, in a real way, can you Give Your Way To Success? That is what I hope to answer here.

I have a daughter that is nearly a teenager. One day in trying to explain to her that her attitude was causing many of her challenges in life, she heard me say this, “What you put out to the world, you get back. So if you are giving your mother and I attitude, that’s what we give you back. If you give us respect…you get that back instead.” This is not a new concept from parents around the world I am sure. But this basic premise is true in our adult lives as well. We just sometimes lose sight of it!

So if you are interested in getting more out of your personal or professional life…give more into it.

Legendary author Stephen Covey (7 Habits of Highly Effective People) once told the story of a man who approached him after a talk. He told Mr. Covey that he had lost that “loving feeling” for his wife. He wanted to know what to do. Covey told him he needed to LOVE her. The man protested saying he no longer felt that way. Covey told him that love is not a feeling…it’s an act. He told the man to GIVE his wife love…and it would return.

So you can see that I am not the first to say that it is possible to Give Your Way To Success. But what I hope to do is to give a step by step outline on how to do just that. I will post new thoughts on this regularly here…along with an occasional call to action.

Today’s call to action…give kindness. Reach out to a person that has done something for you and thank them. Send a card with a heartfelt message and let them know how much you appreciate them and their at. You will be GIVING kindness. Let’s see how much you receive in return!