Part 2 Make A Contribution…Shift In Thought
Think about it…we have all played games all of our life. We have played Monopoly, Life, Baseball, Football and a host of other games and sports. All of these activities have invented rules to create drama and fun and competition. However, it is all made up just for the purpose of the game. Incredibly, we get into it and have played our child-like “hearts out” trying to win. Life is a game. By this, of course, I do not mean to make light of any of our struggles, pain and troubles. Yet, how we approach the game or the rules we accept in order to play it can make a difference in whether we enjoy ourselves or not.
For example, play the game of “Make A Contribution” in regards to your life situation. Instead of going at your circumstance from a “do or die” mentality or perhaps a “whatever” mentality…go at it from the view of wholeheartedly putting yourself in the “game” as a valuable contributor. In other words, it the success of the endeavor does not all depend on you but you play knowing you bring worth and value to the game. So, you bring it. Then, put yourself passionately into the game as one who makes a difference.
Here’s an exercise to help develop this muscle. First, create an agreement with yourself that says something like, “I will play the ‘make a contribution game’ today and every day.” Second, survey this past week and take 10-15 minutes to write down every way you see that you made a contribution. This may be a game changing, innovative idea at work or it may be that you picked up dinner on the way home one day or put dishes in the dishwasher. It doesn’t matter. Just write down every way that you contributed. Third, think about the rest of today. Be intentional about how you will bring value to your world before the day is out. Write down what you will do. OK, this doesn’t mean that should not be spontaneous in playing this game. Feel free to be all the spontaneous you want to be. Point 3 just means that you are bringing a deliberate choice in how you will make a contribution to the remainder of your day. Have fun.