Lift Someone
It’s far too easy to
feel down about yourself … and it’s not just you. Everyone around you –
those people who seem to “have it all together” – they stress about themselves,
too. It’s natural and unavoidable to feel small and inconsequential at
times, but it doesn’t have to be something you settle for feeling long-term.
Been feeling down lately? Yeah, me too. Here’s how to fix it.
Making
Someone Else’s Day Automatically Makes You Happier.
It’s part of basic
human nature to strongly desire significance to other people, to feel
that we’re making a contribution. Knowing you’ve truly helped someone,
that you truly matter to them is pretty much intoxicating on a psychological
and biochemical level.
There’s one little
problem though: We tend to think other people have more impact than we
do. Because of that, we value our own contributions less, and we think
that we suck and others are so much more significant than we can be. We
forget how much we mean to others.
And this happens to us
no matter what level of “success” we have (in fact, “successful” people freak
out about this more than “other” people do).
As humans, we’re just
not wired to appreciate ourselves – and we magnify others’ contributions while
minimizing our own.
So what’s
the antidote to feeling small and valueless?
Simple: Make someone
else feel valued, right now. Think about how incredible you feel when
somebody tells you how the appreciate you, or how you helped them – whether
it’s someone you worked hard to help in a huge, life changing way or even a
child who you simply encouraged consistently (possibly effecting just as big a
change for their future).
Now think about who you
can appreciate in that same way right now.
And don’t just
think about it – tell them. Today.
When you make that
deposit in someone’s emotional bank account, you actually get paid a dividend
in the process because their feeling of elation rubs off on you. By making
them feel appreciated and valued, you’ve made a visible and meaningful
contribution. In short, you’re hugely significant to them, and you’ll feel
that all the way down to your toes.
Your Assignment: Take 7 Minutes To Lift
7 People Up This Week
Each day this week,
send someone a quick email. Quick and short. Just say
“I really appreciate
you because of _____; you’ve made a difference in my life. I just wanted to say
thanks.”
Sure, you can gush if
you want, and ignore my ‘quick and short’ command – it’s really just there to
get you off your ass so you’ll do it. Write as much as you want, but write
something.
Each day this week,
take 60 seconds to email one person. And watch what happens – you’ll feel
better about yourself, in spades.
And Just To
Make Sure You Really Do It, Leave Your First Message In The Comments
Take a few seconds
right now to give someone their shout out in the comments – and then cut and
paste it into an email. The more of you who leave this kind of comment on
this post, the more people you’ll inspire to take action.
Leave your
comment. Lift someone up. It’ll lift you up as well.
Do it now. You’ll thank
yourself for it.
That is all -
David
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