To be successful in your career you have to do a lot of things. Things like servicing your clients. Obtaining and utilizing knowledge to benefit you and your clients. And of course, gaining new business.

These are the aspects of a career that have to be done. However these actions can turn into just another familiar action and maybe become boring. You may begin to think of them as just the “JOB”. How do we combat this feeling to stay on track so we can attain our ultimate goals and desires?

Without a doubt there are many ways to do this. But we are going to be talking about just one. This tactic will…

1. Bring you success in your career
2. Make you happier
3. Help you become a better person

The tactic is Giving.

You have to give if you want to receive. It is the one area in our lives where I suggest being selfish. It is selfish because if you give to get the things you want, then you should desire more things because it will force you to give more. We want more success, we want more wealth, and we want more prestige. There is nothing wrong with wanting these things, however, you can go about getting these things in a way that is good for the world. Giving in all aspects of your life will bring you a return on that investment in one form or another.

What can you give?

The most obvious thing to give is money, but that may not be the most efficient or effective for you. It does have its place, but there are other things of value that can be given to others, such as…

1. Time
2. Knowledge
3. Referrals

When you give your time and expert ideas away to your prospects, clients, and network for free they will view you as more knowledgeable. Prospects will wonder why their current adviser isn’t giving them the same attention you are. It will make you the top of mind adviser every time your prospect thinks of the information you shared with them. The people in your network will begin to see the value you bring to them. This in turn will compel them to bring value to your life.

The aspect that is hard for people to grasp is that the giving and receiving will not be 1 to 1 right away. You will give away you knowledge and time, and may not get any immediate obvious benefit for weeks or maybe years. But you can’t stop. Send people thank you notes after you see them and have a good conversation. Send them articles with relevant information on issues they may be facing. Invite them to community events and introduce them to others in your network. Eventually the investment will pay off. Then when the rewards come, what you receive will be many times larger than what you have given. You will have become part of their network. You will have access to all of the people they know and all of the people they do business with. You will receive more than you could ever give.

Giving can help you succeed. If you use the tactic for purely selfish reasons you will still be doing good for others. But the case will usually turn out to be that giving will make you a better person. The more you give the more you will want to give. The more you give the more success you will have. Achieving this success will make you happier and keep you more motivated to try and achieve more. It is a vicious cycle of greatness that only brings prosperity to you and the people around you.

Giving is always better than receiving. Give all you can at all times. You will guarantee your success if you give yourself to others. It is an investment that will never leave you with less than when you started. It make take a long time and you need to have the long term investment view, but it will happen. Don’t give up.