“Be helpful. When you see a person without a smile, give him one of yours.”
Zig Ziglar
The first two words of this quote can stand on their own merits. “Be helpful.” Imagine how powerful it would be if you started each day with this mindset and closed the day by evaluating your service to others in preparation for doing it again tomorrow. In today’s age, it is too often about self and what one can extract from others instead of what one can give.
Several years ago, a mentor and friend shared their daily “scorecard” process with me. With this scorecard, I rate my daily efforts in living an intentional life by answering key questions to evaluate the day. The root of each question is “Did I do my best to…” followed by some particular element I am focusing on, such as “workout,” “be present in the moment,” etc. At night, I close the day by scoring each question on a scale from a “0” (not at all) to “10” (couldn’t have been any better). I have found that knowing I will have to answer the question, I do a better job of being intentional with my efforts during the day. In addition, I love looking back over the day and over time to see how I have shown up in the most essential areas of life.
I will add the question, “Did I do my best to make someone else smile?” to my daily review.
How can you change your paradigm and reframe how you show up? The gift of a smile, a simple yet powerful act, might be the most helpful thing you can do for someone else today.
One Response
Love this!