Getting to Generous

You agree, of course, that being generous is an essential part of life and business. You’re here because you want to extend your prosperity to others, by serving them and their progress.

You can be generous any way you can, in small gestures, and that is all right. I’d still like to propose some steps. Steps to get to generous in a way you’ll both like, you and the people you serve.

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The first step to generosity is to become independent. For some it’ll sound self-serving and odd, for some it’ll seem self-evident. Being independent starts with saying “I’ve got this”. It’s about crossing that point where, for this thing in your life where you gain independence, you no longer can blame anyone else. That’s because blame is the opposite of generosity. You don’t serve when you carry blame.

The second step to generosity, after having gained independence, is to realize you have influence. When you serve, you also model the right behaviour, you show how it’s done. Generosity is contagious.

The third step to generosity, after exerting influence, is to prioritize the group over the self. You won the battle of the self, you don’t blame anyone for your situation, so the self no longer needs pampering. You’ll be fine, so now it’s the group that needs attention.

The fourth step to generosity, after the group has benefitted from a better environment for a while, is to help members of the group go through the steps above. The group becomes generous.

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A whole team of generous people, tuned to help the people they serve, which includes each other too: what a sight.

A single person, maybe you, going through all those steps: what a transformation.

It seems there’s always that urgency to become generous. To shed the instinct to blame, to hurry to tend to the group, and to hurry to get to the people your group should serve.