The Power Of Giving – How To Live A Life Of Meaning
Success Advice
by Joel Brown -
Even after obtaining what may be considered as ‘enough’ for personal fulfillment, many still feel a void inside them that yearns to be filled.
This is where the power of giving is then realized.
Anyone Can Give
Some people would be inclined to think that only those who are sufficiently endowed financially should give to charity. But one must always remember that giving starts form personal will or from the heart, a thing that every human being has no matter their financial or material standing. So long as whatever is given, whether a service or material gift, makes a positive impact and difference on the life of the recipient, then it qualifies to be a charitable gift. But it must be given unconditionally without any expectation of a reciprocal action from the receiver.
At the same time, you do not have to move far from where they are in order to find a worthy cause in which to exercise charity. Numerous statistics are produced each year that show various problems people face all over the world. These people are all around us. They are hardly a few meters away. For example, statistics show that one out of four people in the world are facing starvation. This means that starving people are just within our reach. What then prevents us from engaging in acts of charity?
Why Don’t Some People Give?
While a good number of people will give out selflessly despite their meagre capabilities, others who may even be more endowed do not give to charity. They claim that they first have to achieve substantially at a personal level before they can give to others. They seem to follow the idea developed in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. In this, one rises through several levels of needs. After one need is fulfilled, then they move to the next level until they reach the peak in this pyramid of needs.
This kind of outlook would be too narrow to allow someone to give. This is because the complex nature of the human being forces us to seek for more, no matter what we may already have. As such, the urge to get more may never end. This is why some people never give to others. They do not realise that the path of self-fulfilment starts right at the bottom of the pyramid and that is where giving should start, not after you have fulfilled all of your possible personal needs.
The reason why some people do not give is because they act out of a consciousness of scarcity, they believe that they do not have it in them to give, that they have nothing of value to share with the rest of the world and that they have to be a certain type of person to give or that there is not enough to go around. All of this is far from the truth, anyone and everyone has something they can offer one another.
Giving Has Immense Personal Benefits
As stated earlier, giving does not necessarily mean giving out money or material items. People give not because they have but because they have that inherent urge to give. In fact, many well-known philanthropists did not start their charity work when they got rich. They probably didn’t know that they would become rich even when they started charitable work.
Even without any material gift to offer, sharing your ideas can have immense personal benefits. Ideas can transform others greatly. Many great things that have been achieved in the world emanated from simple ideas. The benefit of sharing your ideas is that the effect will somehow boomerang back to you. By listening to your own ideas repeatedly as you share with others, you may eventually be inclined to put them in practice yourself with wonderful results. You will be unlocking your own potential of self fulfilment. It may eventually seem like a miracle but that is how selfless giving works.
By giving out what you have without expecting anything in return, you start living a meaningful life. You get to realise your true calling in a life and world full of challenges. If you find meaning in the lives of those in need and do something about it, you will also find meaning in your own life. You find yourself in better health and peace and you achieve more happiness. That is the magic of selfless giving.
“You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.” – Kahlil GibranGibran
I
March 11th 2012, Carlos Slim Helu was declared the richest man in the world for the third consecutive time by Forbes magazine. While many people admire, criticize or detest his achievement; not many know how he came about his wealth.
We may all know the biography of Carlos Slim Helu but not many know the behind-the-scene secret of how he acquired his wealth. In an interview he granted Larry King of CNN; Carlos Slim Helu highlighted his business philosophy and principles. And based on this interview, below is an extract, the secret to success of Carlos Slim Helu.
How Carlos Slim Helu became the Richest Man in the World
1. He started a business
The first secret of becoming a billionaire is starting a business. But before I proceed; I want to ask a question. If Carlos Slim Helu was an employee, would he have become the richest man in the world? My answer is no.
You can never amass wealth working for someone else; you can never become a billionaire holding on to a job.
Take a look at the Forbes list of world billionaires and you will observe that it’s a list dominated by entrepreneurs and investors. This simply connotes that you can never become wealthy keeping a job. Larry Ellison, Bill Gates, Warren Buffett and Carlos Slim Helu all held the coveted position of the richest man in the world by building a business.
2. He was prepared
Many people took notice of Carlos Slim Helu when he made a move to acquire Telmex and emerged on the Forbes list of world billionaires but prior to that; Carlos Slim Helu has been preparing to undergo the entrepreneurial process.
One attribute of becoming a successful entrepreneur is the ability to recognize business opportunities when it comes knocking. Aliko Dangote (the richest black man in the world) once said that to succeed in business; you have to pray for a big break and be prepared to take advantage of opportunities when it comes.
All successful entrepreneurs prepared and waited for the right time to make their big move. Carlos Slim Helu also had his big break and he was prepared for it; this was why he became the richest man in the world.
3. He understood his business to the core
Another reason why Carlos Slim Helu became the richest man in the world was because he understood his business to the core. Carlos Slim Helu is reputed to control over 200 companies all over the world. How did he start? How did he get there?
He was able to start a business and grow to over 200 companies because he understood his business to the core.
“How can you be on top of the things you do? I think when you are involved in a business first of all; you need to know the business. After you know the business, you can let the numbers tell you what is happening. You can read with the numbers to know if things are going well or if things are not going well. You make co-operation with your competitors; you look at the international references to try to achieve the best reference nationally. The numbers talk to you.” – Carlos Slim HeluHelu
4. He stuck to the game
Entrepreneurship is a game; so also is investing. To succeed in this game, you must be committed to the entrepreneurial process and play to win. Before emerging the richest man in the world; Carlos Slim Helu has already found success as an entrepreneur and had every cause to retire. Yet, he stuck to the process.
“Yes. I think that anything that has privileges has responsibility. All this is responsibility and compromise.
Compromise and responsibility are not only for me and my family, but also the management team to have the responsibility to know the importance of what we are doing and that at the end of temporarily managing this; we don’t take anything when we pass away. And we do need to do business with a sense of responsibility.” – Carlos Slim Helu
Every one celebrates and admires the entrepreneurial prowess of Carlos Slim Helu; but only few people can be able to tell what it takes to build a successful business.
Carlos Slim Helu first emerged the richest man in the world in 2010 and retained the position in 2011 but he didn’t get there overnight. It took him 45 years of commitment, focus and competence to achieve this feat.
“I think work, investments and reinvestments. My father used to say that the money that gets out of a company evaporates.
That means he was thinking in terms of investments and reinvestment and reinvestment. That is one of the things we do. Other things that we do are in good times, we maintain our winning streak.” – Carlos Slim Helu
In conclusion, I leave you with a business quote from Carlos Slim Helu about becoming the richest man in the world:
“Becoming the richest man in the world is not championship. It’s the competence; the competence in your sector with other companies not looking to have some kind of records in this issue.” – Carlos Slim Helu
