“We rise by lifting others.” —Robert Ingersoll
Last night, I was frustrated and perplexed. Behind the scenes (and sometimes not so behind-the-scenes), the server status for Becoming Minimalist was causing me trouble. I had tried a number of technical solutions, but each of them were unsuccessful in solving the issue.
Finally, on Saturday night, I sent out a tweet looking for some help. An old friend I haven’t talked to in years responded with an idea. He kindly walked me through a 5-10 minute solution. I was unbelievably grateful. He saved me hours of work.
This isn’t the first time I have received help from somebody on Twitter.
I actually started using Twitter years ago. I opened an account late one evening after noticing a bunch of traffic to my website from the social network. I figured if that’s where people were hanging out, maybe I should too.
One of the first people I started following was Chris Guillebeau on a whim after somebody recommended that I follow him. At the time, Chris had an interesting habit. His first tweet every morning was, “Good morning. How can I help today?”
I responded twice—once to draw attention to a blog post that was resonating with people and once to ask for help promoting a new book.
Both times, Chris obliged. And I have never forgotten it. Even to this day, 6 years later, I still remember Chris as the guy who offered and provided so much help to me when I needed it.
Of course, help has come from the non-digital world as well.
Just last month, I had a significant conversation with a friend in Miami about something exciting we are working on for The Hope Effect. The conversation began when she made a simple statement, “I want to know if I can help in any way.” Since then, we have met every two weeks hammering out specific ways her talent can be of assistance to us.
My short encounter yesterday reminded me that my past is chock–full of men and women who have offered to help me in any number of ways—sometimes when I was in desperation and sometimes when I just needed a little encouragement. But almost all of them I remember well. People who help us happen to stick around in our memory (and affections) for quite awhile.
But the benefit of helping others extends beyond the receiver.
The benefit of offering help also extends to the giver.
Four things stand out to me about people who help others. They display initiative, confidence, care, and capacity—all extremely positive characteristics. If you are lacking in any of these characteristics, offering to help somebody else can develop them in your life.
For example, you may think you don’t have any time in your life (capacity) to help others. But that might change once you discover how helpful you can be to someone who needs what you can offer—whether in a small way or a big way. Once you realize the joy you can bring to others by helping, you might find out that you had more time available than you thought.
You may lack confidence in your abilities… until you discover the countless ways you can enrich the lives of another. You may lack initiative in life… until you take the bold step to offer help and realize you had initiative all along.
When we offer to help someone else, they benefit. But so do we. Because helping others brings out many of the positive characteristics we desire to be true of us.
Email correction.
I love to volunteer within my sphere of capabilities. However, I have had some bad experiences with some volunteer positions. Now I am not sure I want to volunteer anymore.
Individual volunteers can be overbearing, possessive of their position, political, patronizing, just plain one upping another volunteer. They do not think of the people they are trying to help, but concentrate on their own agendas. I really think there are selfish volunteers out there.
I know I have my faults, but when there are volunteers who undermine me I can’t handle that. Also, when it doesn’t work when there are too many bosses.
I just wanted to say there is a negative side to volunteering.
Thank you, Joshua… very meaningful! My Life Verse is Proverbs 11:25 – “The generous one will prosper; those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed.” Blessings, Russ
Along with your Emergency Response Team, you’ll need to havbe a number
of lists available to utilize during your preparation, emergency and the ehterprise restoration section.
“You may lack confidence in your abilities… until you discover the countless ways you can enrich the lives of another. You may lack initiative in life… until you take the bold step to offer help and realize you had initiative all along.
When we offer to help someone else, they benefit. But so do we. Because helping others brings out many of the positive characteristics we desire to be true of us.”
100% agree! I’ve always felt like it is my life mission to help others and tried to incorporate it as much as possible in my work (corporate finance). Over the past few years I’ve thought “I need to stick with my well-paying job and help others as a ‘hobby'” but lately I’m finding the courage to listen to my gut and pursue this calling both in work and our church.
Thank you for confirming my current journey and for your encouragement/inspiration.
Love this, Joshua. In fact, you were my “Chris Guillebeau”. You featured an early post of mine in one of your weekend newsletters, it was my first one about finding simplicity and I will never forget it. You tweeted me with really kind words that I will never forget. That memory is what keeps me going when I feel like I’m not cut out for this.
You’ve helped me in other ways since too and I’m sure I won’t forget those either because you are my minimalist mentor and I’m always learning from you. So, thank you for who you are and what you do. Your generosity has taught me that helping others with what may be a simple thing for me, may change their self-image, belief in themselves, or heal a hurt that I may not know about.
I appreciate you for your leadership into minimalism and for the ways you’ve supported me with my blog. I will pay it forward, you can be sure.
This is great. I’ve also received help from people I’ve met on Facebook and LinkedIn. Ellory Wells has helped me with some technical issues on my blog. I found my narrator for my audiobooks on LinkedIn. Social networking can have positive results as long as we don’t spend too much time posting kittens and puppies.
One year solved a problem and ended up helping others. Sometimes felt the need to buy something, anything. I decided to buy for teenage girls when our church collected items for children’s Christmas stockings. I had fun looking for inexpensive gifts. I did this all year. I didn’t spend much, I got over the need to buy something for the day, I didn’t bring anything new into my home, and I helped others. I felt better than if I had bought for myself. And I didn’t end up with something at home that I didn’t really want or need. I turned my need into a great solution!
Helping out others is definitely important. I do it, but not as much as I’d like. Thanks for the reminder to be intentional in this area.
Hey Joshua,
Nice meeting you here.. :)
I agree with your all point of views. I enjoyed a lot reading this article, you know. I am very happy to read this. We should
always help the needy.
Really one of the excellent post by you for us. Each and every sentence are more cleared more me. Do try to see the benefits
helping others because the benefits comes from out not from that
time.
Hope you will write some more like this post, I really like this post.
Thanks for sharing such an amazing article.. :)
Have a nice day ahead..
– Ravi.
I know a woman in her late seventies who pays a daily visit to our local assisted living center. She assists with weekend services, leads a hymn group, and is a caring presence for others. She embodies what you wrote about here. Kindness is how we express the best in ourselves.
“Kindness is how we express the best in ourselves.” I hope you don’t mind, but I’m using this as a quote on my FB page. It is a new variation on the concept of kindness. Thank you.
This is something my parents instilled in me by example from a ver young age. Unfortunately due to Depression the joy of giving and helping others has all but disappeared in my life. Mr Becker you are such a blessing in my life right now. I’m embarking on a new route in this journey called life. I am going to purge everything I don’t need to be able to appreciate the things that really matter. Less IS more. I’ve embraced this and it’s exciting to think that at 50 yrs old it’s not too late to change. I’ve always been a helper because the reward of giving is not the appreciation of the receiver but the satisfaction of the positive impact you make on them.
Hooray to you and thank you for sharing~ You have helped me today!
Cynthia
I feel like this is so hard to find, and not because people don’t have good intentions. They are so overwhelmed with their own lives that they just don’t have anything extra.
I also have to say that this is the main reason that we left everything behind to move to an intentional community where people have both the inclination and the time to help others.
How very true!
Almost 11 years ago my granddaughter and I lost everything due to an natural disaster. The willingness of friends and family to help us was astounding. We were surrounded by love, shelter, financial donations and material items to get our footing again. True generosity!
Such an inspiring message. I totally agree with you. I believe we haven’t yet realized how easier life would be if everyone had this helping attitude towards others all the time. Everything comes back to you at some point.
Have a good week!
I so enjoy people who demonstrate the generosity of spirit. Often, generosity is associated with money, but it is so much more than that: it’s a posture, it’s a lifestyle. I love this post because I feel that my own wealth has increased as I help others. When we put our abilities and resources to the betterment of the needy, we discover just what abundance we’ve been blessed with. Thanks for writing this, Joshua!
With two kids under two, a growing freelance business, and only the most minimal of daycare situations (one area of my life I don’t actually want to be minimalist…), I’ve recently felt like my ability to give back has disappeared–and my life satisfaction has gone down with it.
Over spring break, my 20-month-old and I are helping out with my church’s outreach for a morning, organizing or doing yard work. It’s kind of incredible how much I’m looking forward to being able to volunteer in some capacity again.
That said, if you ever need any proofreading or copy editing for materials for the Hope Effect, let me know. I’d be happy to help. I even speak decent Spanish. :)
Great post and just what I needed to hear today. Thank you.
I like helping out to others because I want too. :) My only benefit in it is the good karma that will come my way and the person who benefits from my “helping out” to him.
This post is very well written. And very inspirational :)