Debra Kasowski

Is It Better to Be Generous or Be an Over-Giver?

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In the December 2011 issue of Oprah, there was an article called Confessions of an Over-Giver written by Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Love, and Pray. Yes – now famous because of her book and the blockbuster movie of her book. In the article, she talks about how her new found fame also lead to new found wealth. Now who would not want that?Pretty sweet I would say. She states that she has always been generous and a giver but this new found wealth also allowed her to give EVEN more! Elizabeth helped her friends get out of credit card debt, helped them get caught up on their mortgages, helped fund big dream projects, and even bought them houses. In the process, she had so much fun, Elizabeth described it as a “drug-like pleasure.” However, she lost some of the friends she blessed. Not because of money but Elizabeth goes on to say that she robbed some of those friends of important life lessons. What a great article to spur on reflection!

It makes me think of those lottery winners, you know the ones who win big bucks and then a year later are either in the same position they were at or maybe even worse. Why is that? Poor planning you may say. Unsure what to do with what they have and unsure of how to make it bear more fruit. What happens to these people? Do they suddenly kick back on the sofa and say life is sweet I no longer have to do anything?

 

  What happens to their drive or motivation to improve their lives? What happens to their creativity thinking when trying to make things work out in their relationships, businesses, or jobs? What happens to their donation of time, service, or talents? Don’t get me wrong. Do I like what money can do for me? You bet. Do I share what I have yes.  Yes, I do think it is important to give! Do I over-give? Yes, I have caught myself too.

In the Spirit of Christmas Shoebox Campaign that I spearhead with my husband, we have been approached by many to give more and do more. There are many lessons learned in the simplicity of recreating Christmas morning by feeding a school a pancake breakfast and providing each child a gift of a shoebox. Simple gifts can mean big things!!! This year we gave out 1234 shoe boxes. Children were most excited about toothpaste and deodorant something many of us may take for granted.

The greatest gift was given back to us was when a 9 year old autistic boy who had never smiled for his teacher’s aid or showed any human contact (like a hug or handshake) showed Santa his beautiful Christmas socks and gave him a hug and smiled. The teacher’s aid stood in tears as she captured the picture for his mother who did not have a picture of him smiling – not even with Santa. My eyes filled with tears as this precious little boy shared his smile. This Christmas that mother was going to receive a picture of her baby boy smiling with Santa. You can give but the best part of giving is receiving the simple gifts in return. Yes, could we do more? Sure. But I think everyone needs to step up and make a difference in their own way and be generous! You could change a life and it could be yours.

Are you going to be generous with the things that matter most? Money is a vehicle to do it. You must determine how much is too much! Give wisely! As Elizabeth Gilbert concluded, give until it helps!

Make Your Dreams Come True with SAT!

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Do you have a big dream that you want to put into motion but your not sure how? Use SAT!

  1. Share Your Dream. Tell everybody you know about your dream and what it take to put it together.
  2. Ask for Help. Let people know you need help achieving your dream.
  3. Take Massive Action

You do not get your dreams by sitting on the couch!

Creating Wealth with Kathleen Mailer

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Creating Wealth with Kathleen Mailer (www.kathleenmailer.com)- Publisher of Today’s Business Woman Magazine

3 Ways to Create Wealth

You need to have three different things in your income. You need to create:

  1. Immediate Income: You can give someone a product and they give you $20 back.
  2. Intermediate Income: Money you know is coming in every month for the next 12-18  months no matter what, whether you are working or not.
  3. Legacy Income: Something that continues to grow and grow for passing it on for generation to generation.

Amanda Knight

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Right click here to download

For over 12 years Amanda has been working with leaders in corporations and small to medium-sized businesses to help them raise their personal performance. Prior to that she had an early corporate career in marketing.

For the last 7 years she has also been teaching and training fellow coaches and trainers in applied emotional intelligence and transpersonal concepts, tools and techniques.

 Amanda has co-developed a transformational coaching tool called the Individual Potential Accelerator (iPA). The full profile comes with an optional 360 report and requires feedback by an accredited coach.

When speaking, writing and facilitating leadership development, Amanda likes to ask the question: “Why would anyone follow you or buy from you?” What impact do you have on others? And how do you know? Are you getting the results you want from your interactions with others?

Amanda helps business executives to enhance their relationship management skills to become inspiring, authentic leaders rather than frustrated or disempowered managers.

  Amanda helps business owners to get real clarity about where they are heading with their business, and help them to become open to new ways of perceiving, making decisions, and showing up so that they accelerate their progress towards their inspired goals.

And if you are a coach or trainer, Amanda can help you to enhance your understanding and application of emotional intelligence and transpersonal concepts within your own work. So if you are looking for a programme and / or qualification that will enhance your trusted authority as a people developer, then Amanda’s UK university accredited emotional intelligence mastery program may well fit the bill!

Please go to www.minds4success.co.uk for more information.

What Do You Mean You Can’t Teach Effort?

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Today I was waiting at the deli and one employee was busy serving customers and the other was standing with her back toward the customers staring at the clock for a good 3-5 minutes. The other employee asked the girl if she was okay and if she was could she please help serve the awaiting customers. She proceeded to put on the plastic gloves and with a big sigh she said, “I guess so”. Wow, that took the cake! As she started to serve me, she had a long drawn out conversation with her fellow employee saying that if she did not eat right away that she would die. Oh my goodness. I was ready to start laughing as the same girl did the same thing last week when there was a line up of customers. Her colleagues had to ask her to help and she reluctantly did. But this being the second time, I decided that perhaps this person needed some coaching, especially since her fellow employee was mouthing apologies to me on her behalf. I went to speak to one of the supervisors and they knew exactly who I was speaking about.

 What coaching do you think she needed? From my perspective,  she needed to:

        1.        Gain a greater awareness of how her behaviour was affecting  her colleagues and the customers.

        2.       Understand that her role was to serve others.

        3.       Prepare and eat before her shift.

        4.       Understand how important her role was to the store.

Number #4 is the most crucial one! Each person from the janitor to the CEO carries importance to an organization. Imagine what would happen if they were not there…garbage would pile up, no direction or delegation would occur, and no one would be served. If you do not believe your role is important, you are wasting your gifts and talents. The biggest disservice is to you.

You might say to yourself, “I do not have the natural ability that the other person has.” You may not but can you learn the skill? Can you improve over time? Can you work hard and give your best effort? The person, who gets noticed and remembered in the long run, is the person who puts in the effort consistently and gives their best at the time they do a task. Sometimes those with the natural ability – do not produce consistent results, they do not try to improve, and they do not give their best effort because they know they can get by. You cannot teach effort to another person. You can role model it but the pure desire needs to come from within. The intrinsic desire to give your best will get you to your prize faster than anything else. What you do is important!