adding value to other people’s lives
This essay is an excerpt from my book, The Way of The Karma Yogi .
Adding value to other people is a fundamental principle that we need to live by if we want to build better relationships, friendships, businesses, organizations, and connections. We need to do this in a genuine way, without any ulterior motives or selfish interests. It is human to add value to others’ lives and there are numerous ways we can do that:
- Creating a product or service that someone can benefit from
- Helping someone in the time of need
- Teaching or mentoring someone
- Becoming a leader
- Volunteering
- Supporting someone
- Becoming a listener
- Lending a shoulder to cry on
- Giving a hug or a kiss
- Being present and giving our full undivided attention
- Becoming a guide and pointing someone the right way
- Becoming a coach and providing constructive criticism when needed
- Inspiring people through our creative talents
- Making someone smile or laugh in tough times
- Telling a good story to entertain or inspire others
We all benefit from other people’s contributions, big or small, our entire lives. And it makes sense to pay it forward through our endeavors, work-related or not, to the people that we come across in this journey of life. There are no hard and fast rules; we can add value to other people’s lives in ways that suit us the best. It’s important that our actions align with our core values, because only then we are able to contribute authentically by bringing our best version into play. Through our relentless contributions, we can use our uniqueness, our talents, and the lessons that we learn towards better causes that can benefit innumerable lives.
We can bring more intentionality and deliberation in our thoughts and actions by asking ourselves one simple question: “Is this going to add value to other people’s lives?” I call this a ‘value filter.’ Adding value initiates a chain reaction and the ripple effect of our positive actions and karma can benefit countless lives for good. In the end, it’s our responsibility to use our human potential for the betterment of our kind and the future generations that are about to come on this magnificent planet.
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