Category / service

by Nathan Coumbe

Service to others, no matter the times.

Regardless of quarantines, social distancing, and other methods of protecting ourselves physically, we can still find ways to serve others.

Many of us will be mowing our lawns today. How difficult would it be to push the lawnmower over one yard and take care of your neighbor’s?

Perhaps you still have a job, but a friend of yours does not. Order groceries and have them delivered to her door (it’s even more fun if you keep it anonymous).

Cook a casserole for your mother, wrap it up, and leave it on the front porch.

Keep yourself and others safe, but still find ways to contribute to others.

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by Nathan Coumbe

Do good no matter what

We are here on earth to do good to others. What the others are here for, I don’t know.

–W. H. Auden

How you feel today doesn’t matter.

What someone else did to upset you doesn’t matter.

We have limited time to do something great and wonderful, and the best way is to serve other people with your unique talents and passion.

What you get out of it doesn’t matter. You are a servant of good. If you get paid for it, that’s a win for you and the other person. But don’t serve in the hopes of a reward: serve to bring out the best the world has to offer.

Do good in the hopes that others will pay it forward. And if they don’t, keep on anyway.

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by Nathan Coumbe

Make a huge difference with one small behavior change

In his second great book, The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness, relates the story of Muhammad Yunus, an economics professor who founded the Grameen Bank – an institution that makes microloans to the impoverished citizens of Bangledesh. His story deserves to be quoted at length, but I will not do that here. What follows is a summary.

Muhmmad Yunus Saw a Need

Muhammad Yunus earned a Ph.D. and began teaching economics at a university in Bangladesh. While he was inside lecturing on macroeconomic principles, the citizens of Bangladesh were struggling to survive in a life of abject poverty.

One day when Dr. Yunus walked out of class, he passed a woman making beautiful, handmade bamboo chairs. Upon further discussion, he determined the woman was making two pennies per day.

Why? Because she was in a terrible arrangement with her supplier who only allowed her to sell the chairs back to him. Dr. Yunus then discovered that the woman only needed $0.20-0.25 cents to buy the materials herself, then she would no longer be in bonded labor to the supplier.

He discovered that other citizens were struggling in much the same way. His assistant went around asking how much money different people in his neighborhood needed to make a living: he reported back that all together they needed $27.

TWENTY-SEVEN DOLLARS! Dr. Yunus took that money out of his wallet, gave it to his assistant, and told him to tell those who were receiving the money simply to pay him back whenever they could (which they all did, eagerly and quickly).

Dr. Yunus Met a Need

There is much more to the story than that, including a long battle with banks in the area who did not believe anyone would pay back the money that was loaned to them (which they did). Dr. Yunus discovered, simply by opening his eyes and talking to people around him, that while he might not be changing the world with a $27 loan, he was changing someone’s world.

Dr. Yunus went on to create and found his own financial institution, Grameen Bank, which specializes in making small loans to people all over Bangladesh so they can create businesses, making a living, and pull themselves out of poverty. To this day it has loaned billions of dollars in microcredit to hundreds of millions of citizens, and it changed their lives.

Why am I telling you this story?

What You Need to Do

Change how you move through the world. Today, and each day for the rest of your life, when you drive around town, walk outside, or even scroll through social media, pay attention to the people.

What are they doing? What are they posting on social media? Can you identify a need in what they are saying? Are they struggling to accomplish a task or project?

Are they asking a question to which you know the answer or have a solution?

Assume, as Dr. Yunus says, “a worm’s-eye view” of the world. Don’t look for huge problems to solve: look for small, everyday problems. Find someone in need, ask yourself if you have the will and the skill to meet that need, and then do something about it. Show up, solve a problem, and keep doing that over and over again.

Ask yourself if you have the will and skill to meet someone’s need today.

You may not change the world, but you will change that person’s world. Do that enough times, solve enough problems for people, and you might begin to see a greater need that can be met by a business, service, or non-profit.

Find a need, meet the need, and make a difference today.

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*Note: some links on my site are affiliate links which means I make a small commission for purchases made. This does not affect you in any way.

by Nathan Coumbe

Invest in goodness

“Goodness is the only investment that never fails.”

–Henry David Thoreau

The stock market is reeling; businesses are closing; people are losing jobs. Any decision attached to money comes with a risk.

Being generous, kind, and selfless is not a risky thing to do. Sure, you might get taken advantage of or your acts might not be appreciated, but so what? You will always gain equity and compound interest when you are good and decent to others.

Today, and for the rest of your life, invest in goodness.

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by Nathan Coumbe

“But why is no one listening to me?”

You are having an argument with your spouse, and she doesn’t understand your point of view, no matter how much you push it.

Your children won’t do anything that you ask them to do. They won’t engage or communicate with you; they shut down every time you try to talk to them.

You are writing blogs and posts, but no one is reading or responding to them.

You’ve created a product that will change lives, but no one is buying it.

Naturally, you ask the question:

“Why is no one listening to me?”

You feel you are doing everything right. You have the right ideas or the right argument; you know more than your children; this product is truly amazing and has revolutionized the way you see and do things. And yet, no one is listening. No one is engaging. No one is buying.

Why?

Because you aren’t listening to them.

The only way to get others to listen to you, to engage with you, to buy from you, is to listen to them and understand their points of view, their wants, and their needs.

If you bludgeon people over the head with your arguments and ideas, they won’t accept them; they don’t have the same ideas, the same noise inside their heads. They are telling themselves different stories. The key to being listened to, to making an impact, is to understand those other stories.

You don’t have to agree with them, but you do have to listen to and understand them. When people feel understand, when they feel heard, when they know that you see them and their side of things, they feel more open to hearing what you have to say.

“Seek first to understand, then be understood.”

–Stephen R. Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

No one is listening to you because you aren’t listening to them.

Your spouse won’t listen to your side of the argument because all you are thinking of is your side of the argument.

Your children won’t listen to your advice and guidance – even though you probably do know more and understand more than they do – because they don’t feel like you understand them, how they feel, or the narrative in their heads.

No one is buying your stuff because as awesome as it is, they don’t get how it will benefit them or how it will make them feel once they use it. Why? Because you didn’t take the time to understand what they want or how they want to feel.

Understand

To influence someone, you must open yourself to the possibility of being influenced by the other person. This means creating a feeling of understanding in the other person. This is not meant to be manipulative: you must genuinely want to understand the other person. Also, people can tell if you are simply trying to manipulate them rather than understand them.

Listen to what your spouse wants; listen to how your children feel; listen to the needs and frustrations of your customers.

Understanding must always come first; otherwise you’ll fail.

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*Some of my posts contain affiliate links, which means I make a small commission on any purchases.

by Nathan Coumbe

The extra mile might be too far

I doubt you have kept track of how many times people have told you to “go the extra mile.” In the spirit of influence, I’ll ask you anyway:

How many times have you been told to “go the extra mile?” Perhaps you work in customer service or sales; perhaps you’re married and want to do more for your spouse; maybe you really want to please your boss on the next project.

Here’s the thing: a mile is really long when you start trying to walk or run it. It’s tough, so tough most people would rather not make the attempt than start down the mile and stop before completion.

There is really good news:

YOU DON’T HAVE TO GO THE EXTRA MILE.

Hear me clearly on this: I am not saying that you should be lazy or merely do your job. What I mean is the smallest extra step in however you serve others can have dramatic results.

Here is an example:

A customer approached a clerk in the grocery store asking where a particular item was located. What did the clerk do? He might have pointed to the correct aisle and gone back to stocking his shelf. But instead, the clerk said, “Follow me!” and led the same customer two aisles over and pointed out the exact item in question.

The clerk didn’t go the extra mile. At most, he went a few extra yards. He served that customer in the smallest of ways; instead of letting the customer wander for a minute more or spend time on the correct aisle attempting to locate the item amongst dozens of others, he led the customer right to it. He saved, at most, a couple of minutes of time and a modicum of fustration for the customer. Not huge in the grand scheme of things, at least not for the clerk. But it made a lasting impact on the customer.

More Human

The clerk did one important, life-changing thing: he acted more human than was absolutely necessary. That small step impacted the customer more than the clerk would ever know; that small act told the customer, “I see a really easy way to serve you in the manner I know how. Here, let me help you.” A small, human kindness. He made a connection; he created a small but memorable experience.

It wasn’t difficult, but it was magical.

So don’t worry about the extra mile. Go the extra yard. Still too far?

Just take one extra step.

Start small. Be more human.

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*Some links in my posts are affiliate links, which means I get a small percentage from any purchases made.

by Nathan Coumbe

No one cares how the hot dog is made

When we create something in which we take great pride, we have a tendency to expound on nitty-gritty details of the work that went into it and how it works.

The people who will use or benefit from your something-or-other rarely care about the what or how: they want to know why.

Why should they use it? Why should they buy it? How does implementing it benefit them? How does it improve their lives?

No one cares how a hot dog is made as long as it is delicious and satisfies hunger.

No one cares about the hammer you built. It doesn’t matter what kind of wood the handle is made of or what sort of rare metal from Mars makes up the head. What the user/buyer/beneficiary wants to know is simple:

Will that hammer put a nail in the wall so that I can hang my picture?

Seek to understand who your widget is for and why they would want to use it: that’s the only thing that matters to the end-user.

(You probably should care how a hot dog is made, but that is a discussion for another day.)

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