Up to now, we’ve spent time exploring our hearts and figuring out what we want our giving to look like. Now we’ve come to the step that is all about action.
Step 6 is to get in the game. The goal is to execute the strategies laid out in your Generosity Gameplan. In this step, you’ll answer the question: “What will I do first?”
Before we get into it, I want to introduce one of the wonderful consequences of getting in the game and offering your renewable currencies. I call it themultiplier effect:
- You give, and you receive as much or more in return.
- You give, and your supply isn’t diminished.
The multiplier effect works because it takes into account the spiritual side of the equation as well as the material. Not everything important in life can be seen and quantified—much wealth is invisible and experienced rather than touched.
When we give from a place of connection, our currencies are replenished as well, and this sustains us and allows us to give more.
- Our relationships multiply in a number of ways: the existing ones become deeper and more satisfying, and the connections in our networks are reinforced, thereby strengthening our community.
- Our strengths multiply when we experience the exhilaration of excelling at what we’re doing and we feel appreciated for who we really are.
- Even our resources multiply as we leverage our contributions, overlap our efforts with others, and multiply the value of what our resources can do on their own.
Experiencing the multiplier effect is a sign that you are practicing transformational generosity. It’s not the only reason to exercise our most generous impulses, but it is a wonderful benefit of the process.
Exercise: Reaching Out
- Choose an idea you brainstormed in the last step—one of the ways you see yourself using your strengths to address the issue that you are passionate about.
- Reach out and connect with someone about the issue and your idea. This will likely be a preliminary conversation where you gather information about the issue, its nuances, the needs around it, and what’s currently being done about it. This connection could look like this:
- A web search of organizations working on this issue and a phone call to the organization you’d like to connect with.
- A phone call or email to a friend you know who is working in this area already.
Now you’ve got the ball rolling.
John Stanley