GO-GIVER

This morning my husband encouraged me sleep in.  And as I snuggled under the covers and listened to the rain I had the opportunity to reflect on everything that’s right in my world…

• After 15 years of marriage I still like my husband
• My mother (who is 78) can still water-ski and roller-blade
• I can zip up the jeans that I purchased last fall
• Last night my volleyball team was victorious
• And in spite of a down economy, The Meyvn Group continues to prosper

This is just a small sample of my morning’s gratitude list and I have to tell you I feel extremely blessed!   And it led to a question – am I just lucky? 

So I went to the University of Google and typed in “What is Luck?”

1. Wikipedia says that luck “is a belief in good or bad fortune in life caused by accident or chance which happens beyond a person’s control. “
2. Hindu teachings propose that destiny (luck) and human effort depend upon each other. (Mahabharata, XII. 139. 81)
3. Author Robert Collier says that “All of us have bad luck and good luck. The man who persists through the bad luck – who keeps right on going – is the man who is there when the good luck comes – and is ready to receive it.”
4. And an insightful blogger suggested that “if luck truly exists it means that God has favorites.” 

I am a self-professed control freak which means that I can’t embrace Wikipedia’s point of view.  I am also very sure that I would not make any conceivable list of “God’s favorites” – therefore I have to reject premise #4.  That leaves the concepts of hard work and perseverance.   These words make sense to me.  They are a big part of my value system.  And in my family we would call people who exhibit those traits “go-getters.”  But is that truly the answer?

The Business Book Club http://www.meyvngroup.com/bookclub.php  read “The Go-Giver” by Bob Burg and John David Mann this month.  In our discussion on Tuesday we asked the question, “What was your aha moment?”  Melynda and I agreed that for us one of the most powerful messages in the book came on page 159. 

There are three universal reasons for working.  Survive to meet your basic living needs.  Save to go beyond your basic needs and expand your life.  And serve to make a contribution to the world around you.

Burg and Mann believe that in order to serve you can’t just be a go-getter – you also have to a go-giver.  Which means that luck – or at least good luck – is the result of contributing to the world around you.

So what does your gratitude list look like and how have the “Five Laws of Stratospheric Success” impacted your luck?  

http://www.slideshare.net/tkrogers/the-5-laws-of-stratospheric-success