Make Generosity a Habit
March 4, 2022
To Inspire:
I have just started a new book, The Generosity Habit, by Matthew Kelly. I’m a big fan of Matthew’s talks and books – he shares wisdom with such practical insights. I thought our WealthNotes readers would enjoy hearing from his forward in the book:
“I hear people say, I can do so little. That may be true but people also ask frequently how did the world get to be in such a mess? The the answer is so personally convicting that we reject it – the world got to be a mess because millions of people like you and me didn’t do our part! Your and my part may be small; we won’t really get to know until we start doing it. Mother Teresa didn’t set out to become a global champion for the poor, she just set out to do her part.
Let’s do our part large or small and not become another one of the mindless millions of people that abandoned their part and exchanged it for a life totally focused on themselves. Let’s decide today, right here that the world will be a better place because we were here; that we will not let our part go undone. Let’s say to ourselves out loud, “I will not let my part be left undone!”
When people are at the end of their life they often regret not having been more generous. It is true that there are some regrets that creep up on us, but this is not one of them. Let’s choose to live the rest of our lives generously.
The generosity habit is simple. Give something away every day. It doesn’t need to be money or material things. In fact, the philosophy behind the generosity habit rests on this singular truth: you don’t need money or material possessions to live a life of staggering generosity.
In upcoming WealthNotes, we will share some of the 100 suggestions Matthew gives for living the generosity habit each day. They are simple and inexpensive (many times free) and yet they will change our lives and the lives of others in a staggering way. Get ready to have your life changed by adopting a new habit, the generosity habit!
Written by Matt Palmer, Partner & Co-founder