In a recent “12:56 Quote” post on the Joyful Genius FB page, I posted the Booker T Washington quote, that the best way to lift yourself up is to lift someone else up. I said when I posted it that it is true at many levels – this blog is to explore why that’s the case.
Karma
Well, to start with, there’s good old karma, that idea that what goes around, comes around. If you are known as the sort of person who looks out for others, and is not shy of doing the odd good deed, then people are far more likely to watch your back, and to give you a leg-up when they can.
Quid Pro Quo
And at the extreme end of that, the person you have uplifted is probably going to feel a responsibility to actively seek ways to ‘repay’ the favour. Of course, they may choose to work on more of a ‘pay it forward’ basis, and repay your kindness by being kind to somebody else. And then the universe has a way of looking after the good folks – you might even find some of the good karma from their generosity coming back to you!
Make yourself easier to lift
In “The Magic of Thinking Big”, David Schwatrz talks about making yourself easier to lift. The idea is that if you focus all the time on getting what you want, nobody has any reason to lift you up. But if you help other people on the way up, they are going to be much better disposed towards you in your own upward trajectory.
Feel-good factor
And the final way is that it is simply emotionally and spiritually uplifting to help others get what they want, or to make them happier. I think it was Zig Ziglar who said the more people you help to get what they want in life, the more likely you are to get what you desire. One of the big reasons behind that is, because you are generally happier yourself when you help others, you are much nicer to be around, so a great secondary benefit is that people will also naturally want to lift you up.
All this means that there really isn’t any good reason not to put some effort into lifting someone else up.
And that’s my challenge to you: work out who you could lift up next week, and how.
And then do it – feel free to report back how it went in the comments.
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