I’ll start this by saying that today I got back on my old habit of helping other people.

It’s been some time since the last time I got out of the house to help someone on a problem. The reason for that is because in the past 7 months or so I’ve been reading lots of books and other materials on business, and a point that is repeated very often in them is about the Pareto principle (the 80/20 rule). It states that for many events, 80% of the effects comes from 20% of the causes.

I kinda took it too seriously (and slightly misused it) and slowly stopped helping others, because I was doing it for free and there weren’t any material results involved; it was bad for business.

But because helping others was an activity that I enjoyed doing and it always offered me great amounts of energy, after stopping I started to feel a little strange, de-motivated.

I didn’t fully realize it what it was that I was missing until today.

As I write this post, I just returned from someone who’s now a friend of mine.

I was at his place, working to set up his DSL internet connection, because in my town the Internet Service Provider doesn’t send a technician to do it for you. It isn’t a complicated thing, but if you have a faulty Windows installation, no driver for the network adapter, no DSL splitter and no technical knowledge, things are very complicated.

Anyway, it took me 4 hours to get it done. I didn’t get any money out of it, but I got something way more valuable than that.

I got a lot of energy, a new friend, and I haven’t felt so alive and motivated in a very long time!

The pleasure and joy that a person experiences when (or after) helping someone is a natural motivator. Most of us feel good knowing that we brightened someone’s day or helped someone solve a problem.

Helping others is also the best way to make new contacts and friends.

Putting the interests of others before your own interests helps in cleansing the mind soul and buoys your sense of altruism.

Helping others elevates the self and summons up the individual connection to the common good that lurks in the heart of almost everyone.

Initially I wasn’t sure if I wanted to do it, because time is scarce, but I’m really happy I did it! The only minor problem is that I might get too hooked on this and pay less attention to my other activities. But I’m not worried.

If each of us will make the activity of helping others a conscious daily goal, the world would be a much MUCH better place as soon as the end of this year. Other than that, when you’ll get old and you’ll review your life, even if you didn’t manage to get featured on an episode of The Simpsons or to become a millionaire, you’ll feel confident knowing that your life mattered and you made a difference on this Earth. It mattered because you were able to help others.

That is the greatest feeling of all!

If you're new here and have found useful information, please subscribe to my RSS feed or sign up for free Email updates. There are daily updates and you should stay tuned. Thanks for visiting!

Previous/Next Articles: « Can beauty really save the world? | Interview. Who? Me »

Posted in Life, Personal Growth, Spiritual, Success, Tips for life