Tag / selfless

by Nathan Coumbe

Did You Do Something Good Today?

“Never be entirely idle; but either be reading, or writing, or praying, or meditating, or endeavoring something for the public good.”

—Thomas à Kempis

What are you doing right now? Okay, you’re reading this blog post – bad question to ask.

What have you done today? What are you planning on doing today?

Have you written anything? Have you read a good book (or blog post?) 

Have you developed your self-awareness? Or your ability to empathize with people who are different from you? 

Have you done something for the good of another? 

Have you performed any selfless act of service?

Too many of us end each day with a resounding “no” to all these questions. Instead, our answer to the question, “What have you done today?” is usually something like this: “I went to work, came home, and binge-watched Netflix until I passed out.”

Change How You View Your Work

Perhaps you really did nothing other than work today. Perhaps it really had no other benefit than growing your checking account. 

Or perhaps you should reevaluate how you spend the time you are not at work, so that you do create something, learn something new, or serve another person. Or perhaps you should change the way you view your work – I’m betting you did something today that benefitted someone. Reflect on that. 

Too often, we use work, podcasts, and the always-available streaming services to block ourselves from creating our art. We chalk it up to a lack of time. 

But where is your time going? We all have the same 24 hours in a day, 168 hours in a week. Unless we are doing shift work or have a newborn at home, we have time to create good for the world. 

I challenge you to answer one question every night before you go to sleep: “Did I do something good today?”

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by Nathan Coumbe

Forget yourself

“Develop interest in life as you see it; in people, things, literature, music–the world is so rich, simply throbbing with rich treasures, beautiful souls and interesting people. Forget yourself.

–Henry Miller

Life is better when you live it for things outside yourself.

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

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

A break with the Industrial Age

The COVID-19 pandemic has created rapid change in all areas of work. For those employees who showed up to an office location day after day, the lines between work and home have been blurred completely: work is now being done at home. School is now being done at home. And the amazing thing is that companies (and many schools) are realizing it works. Not only does it work, but it might also be better.

The Internet has made all this possible. Without it, this pandemic would have ground the world to a screeching halt rather than a frustrating slow-down. I believe that the COVID-19 pandemic is one of the final straws in breaking the world out of the Industrial Age mindset and unleashing human potential by fully adopting the Knowledge Worker/Information Age mindset.

These changes – the ability to work from home; meetings that are now (and should have always been) emails; genuine collaboration (because it’s the only way to get things done now); dictating results and trusting employees with the methods – will last long after this crisis is over. Companies will realize that their people are more productive than ever when given freedom and flexibility. More importantly, those that feel like their companies cared about them as people during the crisis will come out the other side more loyal and productive than ever before.

Those companies that are trapped in the Industrial Age – where people are things and less important than the machines they operate and the numbers they generate – will fail. Command-and-control, micromanagement, treating people as things – none of this works anymore. The failures may not happen immediately, but it will happen. Employees who feel their companies have failed to treat them with dignity and care, who have felt their health and wellbeing was seen as unimportant, will leave.

The coronavirus is terrible: people are dying; people are losing their income and their livelihood. But as with all great challenges in history, forward thinking, adaptable, flexible, and generous individuals, groups, and companies will learn from it, survive, and thrive in the new world.

Say goodbye to the last vestiges of the old world. I hope you are working for and with people who care.

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by Nathan Coumbe

Networking is terrible, but there is a better way.

Networking – the idea of surrounding yourself with lots of people who might be able to open doors for you and help you get jobs – is a terrible practice.

It sucks.

The premise is flawed; it goes against every notion and every principle of decency and humanity. To effectively network, it seems one must adopt the mindset of, “What can this person do for me? How can she connect me with the HR department at [insert famous company]? What resources can she offer me so that I can get better (more marketable and attractive to potential employers)?”

Take, take, take, take. It’s a very common practice in Social Networking – some will say, “Use [pick your Social Media poison] to grow as many potentially helpful connections as possible so that maybe one of them can help you get a job at a certain company.”

The selfish focus, the mindset of “me,” is horrid. What is worse: it often backfires and alienates those you are attempting to use for your own selfish gains.

You think these “connections” can’t read right through your message? You’re wrong.

A new way to network

I propose a new way to network – go on your LinkedIn profile and start going down the list of connections. For each one, ask yourself this question: “Can I make a contribution to this person today, and if so, how?”

One important note: this requires a paradigm shift – a genuine change in your way of thinking (here’s a post about paradigms). You cannot adopt this posture while thinking in the back of your mind, “How can I contribute in a way that will get me something later?” You haven’t actually changed anything about the process that way.

If you really want to test this out, find someone in your list of connections who truly cannot “do” anything for you, in the sense of making a connection, giving a recommendation, or helping you get a job. When you find this person, ask yourself what contribution you can make: maybe it’s a simple message of gratitude for something they posted; perhaps it’s asking how their business is performing during the current crisis.

It doesn’t have to be much – it only has to be genuine. Only you will know if your intentions are pure.

“Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.”

–John F. Kennedy

JFK said it well, and the same message applies to networking.

Ask not what your connections can do for you; ask what you can do for your connections.

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