Give First by Klemmer

Leaders systematically give what they want to receive.

Imagine you are lying in a sleeping bag inside a log cabin with the snow coming down outside. As you first open your eyes, all that's sticking out of your sleeping bag is your eyes and nose because it is SO cold.

You realize the reason it's so cold is that there is no fire in the wood stove. In fact, you become aware there's no wood inside the cabin! You have A PROBLEM.

Now, you try and get very creative and you tell the stove, "Look, if you will just warm me up a little, then I'll gladly run outside and get you some wood."

Silly, yet how much of our lives do we live that way? We say to our spouse, "Spend more time with me and I will love you more." And your mate is saying back to you, "Love me more and I will spend more time with you." The stove won't heat up until you put wood into it!

In many businesses, employees are saying, "Pay me more and I will work harder."

Management is saying, "Work harder and I will pay you more." Again, the stove won't heat up until you put wood into it.

Become a giving maniac. Be on a mission to give first, even when you don't see how it will come back to you.

This week, when you go to work, consciously decide how to give to the receptionist, your boss, someone out in the field, or someone in another department. Try giving simply because you have decided to be a giver and see what happens. The reasons for giving are many.

Also, it is plain FUN to give. Think about the last time you gave and how it felt. It's not only fun, it's fulfilling. Giving has other practical benefits. You give and it sometimes comes back from that person. But other times it comes back from some other source.

For many people, when the giving does not come back from the person or organization they gave to, they falsely conclude that giving does not pay.

I am a huge believer in tithing (giving 10 percent of everything you earn back to God). Besides the spiritual lessons, in a very practical way this convinces your sub-conscious of the abundance that is out there in the world.

Giving builds loyalty in the relationships you have. We are prevented from giving first because of three factors:

-Our pride says that someone doesn't really deserve it.

-Our viewpoint of scarcity that there is not enough to go around or will be left for us.

-Our self-centered point of view.

It always amazes me that when people complain about not having enough time and I tell them to give some time away, they resist. They insist they do not have enough time and I insist they give some away.

The perceived need for survival blinds us receiving from many, many sources.

TAKEAWAY! If you want something, then give it first. Receiving does not necessarily come from the same place to which you have given.

Action Step #1

What is it you lack most: Time? Money? Control? Recognition? Begin a systemized way of giving what you lack on a regular basis. You want a "system," not a random act of giving, because repetition will build and create more and more momentum.

Action Step #2

Pick someone you want to receive something from. Now, find out what it is that they want and give that to them. Many times we give what we want to give, missing the mark widely from what it is they want to be given.

An Example  Several years ago, we had done a few classes for a network marketing company with their distributors. As usual, those men and women became not just clients, but good friends we cared about. One day I got a call from a director in the company. He shared with me that they had some severe challenges going on. They had gone public at about $8 a share, and the stock price had dropped to $1. There was conflict and even lawsuits being threatened. He said he knew of our sales training, but asked if I also did conflict resolution. I said yes, but not directly. I told him to put the senior management in a room along with the key "upset" distributors and I would fly in at my own expense and spend a day with them and then we'd see what developed. I gave freely of my time and expertise. The day turned out very well, and it led to close to a million dollars in business for us with that company. Have I given and not had it come back from the same company or person? Sure, but in some way from some where, it always comes back.

"My father was a successful businessman. When he died no one remembered him for his skill at reading the markets. They remembered him for the favors he did."–Rabbi Harold Kushner