Related Articles
Table of Contents
Topic: The Habit of Adding Value to Others
Pretend that every single person you meet has a sign around his or her neck that says, Make Me Feel Important. Not only will you succeed in sales, you will succeed in life.
Mary Kay Ash
Every one of us needs encouragement on a regular basis. I believe one of the greatest things we can do in life is to form the habit of adding value to everyone we come in contact with.
Remember that a habit is formed through repetition; therefore,focusing on doing this every day is the key to success. If adding value to everyone that you meet is the habit you want to develop, be creative in finding methods that will remind you to
do so.
If you need reminders, write yourself a note that you will have to read, or make a sign and put it the first place you will be after getting out of bed. After seeing your reminder I suggest you even say to yourself or out loud, “Today I will add value to everyone I meet.” Even if encouraging others does not come easily to you, you can develop the habit of doing it. I know, because I have done that in my own life.
Focusing on adding value to other people will help us take our minds off ourselves, and that is a very good thing. Being self-centered is the root cause of most of the world’s misery, and anything we do to avoid it in our lives is a plus. People with my type of personality, commonly called type A or choleric, are very focused individuals, but they usually focus on what they are trying to accomplish. As a result of that focus, they can often be guilty of being insensitive to the needs and desires of other people.
All personality types have strengths and
weaknesses. The type A or choleric person’s tendency to be insensitive to other people is a weakness, and it must be
confronted and overcome with God’s help.
We should never use people to get what we want, and if they help us get what
we want or reach our goal, we should give them credit and value them all the more. This is something that God has helped
me overcome and it has made me a better leader and person. I am sure I still make mistakes, but I have made lots of progress
over the years. If this is a weakness for you, admit it, and start right now overcoming it with God’s help. You and He together can do anything!
There are people who are gifted by God with a special ability to encourage others. The Bible says in Romans 12:8, when speaking about giving ourselves to exercising the gifts that we have, “(He who exhorts (encourages), to his exhortation; he who contributes, let him do it in simplicity and liberality; he who gives aid and superintends, with zeal and singleness of mind; he who does acts of mercy, with genuine cheerfulness and joyful
eagerness.” Even if you feel that encouraging others is not a particular gift for you, you are still responsible to do it. God’s Word teaches us that we are to encourage one another.
The people who are gifted to encourage others will find that it comes very naturally to them. It won’t be a habit they will have to develop, but thankfully it can become one for the rest of us.
God is the Source “of every comfort (consolation and encouragement)” (2 Corinthians 1:3). Since God is an encourager, we should be the same way, because He is our example in all things. Any time we do what God does we can
be assured that we are doing the things that are right and that will produce joy, peace, and power for our own lives. The
more you encourage others, the better you will feel and the more joy you will have. We reap what we sow; therefore, if we sow joy we will reap joy. If we sow encouragement, we can expect encouragement from others. When we encourage others it builds them up and makes them strong. They are
enabled to press forward; however, without that encouragement they might become weary and give up.
You have it easily in your power to increase the sum total of this world’s happiness now. How? By giving a few words of sincere appreciation to someone who is lonely or discouraged. Perhaps you will forget tomorrow the kind words you say today, but the recipient may cherish them over a lifetime.
Dale Carnegie
We have been entrusted with a great power. We have the power to encourage and to add value to everyone we meet.
What a wonderful goal to start each day with!
There are many ways we can encourage other people.
We can do it with words, through contributing to help pay for something they may need, and through giving aid to them in some way. We can also encourage people by being quick to forgive, to cover offenses (1 Peter 4:8), withhold criticism, and bear with and be patient with their weaknesses (Galatians 6:2).
I sure appreciate it when people don’t make a big deal out of my mistakes. It is wonderfully refreshing when we make a
mistake and the person who was affected by it says, “Don’t worry about it, it is not a problem. We all make mistakes.”
Another way to add value is to listen with interest to what people say. None of us like it when we are trying to talk to someone and it is obvious they are not interested in what we are saying. It makes us feel devalued. There are, of course, some people who rattle on and on, and listening to them for as long as they want to talk may not be possible, but at least we
can exit the conversation respectfully.
We can encourage and add value to people through extending mercy to them. God’s Word says that mercy is greater than judgment. People who notice everything anyone does that is wrong are referred to as faultfinders. They seem to usually notice what is wrong and they always mention it, but they seldom see what is right. Even when they do see what is
right, their critical nature prevents them from talking about it.
Instead of showing mercy and not mentioning the fault or mistake, they rehearse it over and over, not only to the person
with the fault but to other people also. They find it hard to drop it and let it go, which is part of the definition of forgiveness. I
know how people like that affect me, and I sure don’t want to be one of them. Do you? Jesus had the habit of being merciful,
kind, and forgiving, and I want it, too, don’t you?
We should make a big deal out of anything good that anyone does and learn to cover their faults with mercy. Let’s make them feel better when they make mistakes instead of making them feel worse.
