Our friend and Ambassador Adam Rosante recently shared his thoughts on the power of giving in a newsletter to his subscribers. We're sharing it here, with his permission, and want to say how proud we are to count him as one of our supporters. We hope his words encourage you to use your life to impact others, during the holiday and all throughout the year.
Learn more about Adam on his website and be sure to follow him on Twitter and Instagram.
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I'm gonna share something with you that I don't share with many people.
And I PROMISE this isn't a roundabout way of soliciting money for anything! So, please, read on...
I don't care if you've got 15 million dollars in the bank or 15 cents.
Everybody, and I mean EVERY BODY, has the ability to make an impact.
When I was in my early twenties, I didn't have much money.
Honestly, many times it bordered on catastrophic how little money I actually had.
But since I was little I've felt a drive to take care of people less fortunate than me. And, there's always someone less fortunate.
If I were to lay down on a psychologist's couch, it probably has to do with my very humble upbringing as a child, but I won't get into that right now.
Anyway, I really wanted to make a difference in people's lives, but as the old saying goes, I barely had a pot to pee in (ok, I changed the old saying there a bit, but just trying my best not to be crass, here! :)
So, I had no money, but I was really good at planning and organizing and getting people excited about things.
After a lot of searching, I found a women's domestic violence shelter and started throwing an annual holiday party for the kids and moms.
Then, throughout the year, I'd organize all kinds of activities for them.
My thought was, if I could help bring a little joy and light into their lives at an otherwise painfully difficult time, that would be a good thing.
This was so much harder to pull of than you might imagine due to the extreme need for confidentiality. These are essentially women and their children that are in hiding from abusive relationships.
But persistence pays.
I was able to pull it off that first year. And I still do it to this very day with the help of some awesome volunteers.
On a parallel track, I started saving 10% of every penny I got.
Whether I earned it or found it in the street... I immediately set aside 10 percent.
I gave myself a timeframe for how long I'd let the savings build up. In the early days it was 6 months.
And over the course of that time, I'd think about all the great things that I might be able to do with the money.
Then, when the time came... I did it.
Whatever idea I had that felt the best and was doable for the money I had, I did.
Didn't tell anyone about it. Hell, I didn't even take the tax benefit.
I quietly used the cash and my unique personal gifts to help other people.
As you can imagine, when I was struggling hard, that amount of money was a heck of a lot smaller than it is, today.
But one of my early mentors taught me something INCREDIBLY important...
It's not about the amount you give. What matters is your willingness to share a portion of what you have, financially or otherwise, with people who need it.
We all have something to share.
Time
Money
Resources
Look at your life and your unique gifts, then figure out how you can use them to help others.
I share all this not to impress you. But to impress upon you what's possible when you realize the impact you can have.
So, just a little note at the start of this holiday season to hopefully encourage you to give a little (or a lot!) to others.
You may just change someone's life.
All the best,
Adam
