Thursday, December 06, 2007

Strive For Three

I recently gave a speech to a group of business executives and during the question and answer portion was asked how I might suggest someone begin adhering to a Ripple-centric philosophy for their life. I get this question quite a lot so I figured it would be worth sharing my answer in this platform.

Ripple is about creating or taking action on someone else's behalf. Doing something....anything on a a consistent every day basis. My belief is when you are consciously on the hunt to Ripple on someone else's behalf you become acutely aware of your surroundings and it makes you active participant in the game of life. Not just a transient passenger of it.

So back to the question. How does someone begin utilizing the concept in their life? I have a little mental game I play with myself called Strive For Three. It's quite simple and a whole lot of fun. Here's how you play:

Throughout your day look for three opportunities to help someone and do it. Take an action on their behalf. It can be a big action or a little action but whatever it is, it's an action. It could be as simple as holding a door open for someone and wishing them a good morning. It might be complimenting a co-worker on a job well done or how nicely they dressed on that day. It might be letting that guy who's had his blinker on trying to get into your lane of traffic cut in in front of you and giving him a big smile while you do it. It could be stopping and offering to help that person change their tire. Or it might be buying a cup of hot coffee on a cold winter morning and stopping to give it to the flag man of the road construction crew.

The cool thing is your action can be anything you want it to be!

So as you do these things throughout the day keep track. Write them down. Strive to do a minimum of three each day and record your Ripples in a little journal. Tally your score at the end of each week and see how many positive Ripples you have created out there in the world.

Before long what you will notice is Rippling is no longer a game....it's a way of life. Your good deeds will have you feeling a little like a super hero and extremely good about yourself. That alone is a fantastic reason to begin Rippling every day in every way. And those Ripples you create will come back to you in ways that are unimaginable.

Strive for three is a great way to get yourself actively Rippling. So what are you waiting for?

Ripple On!!!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Steve,

Thanks for continually reminding us that "Rippling" goes far beyond being a more genuine and effective way to expand our personal and business network. It's about creating a good life through doing good for others, somewhat like the old adage "you get what you give."

I believe that in "The Ripple Effect" you told us something to the effect that Rippling, i.e. doing good for others, can be one of the most selfish things a person can do simply because the good you do will come back to you in multiples.

Giving to those we will likely never encounter again (e.g. the driver we let into the lane ahead of us) usually takes little time and the good deeds can add up fast. I think today is a great time to start building up that account!


LG

Hollis Baker said...

Steve, Thanks for the neat blog. Alice and I embrace you idea of "rippling" each day. We find it easy to do and it is a lot of fun. We find opportunitys every place we go, even at the dentist's office today.

Hollis

Terri said...

I read this post yesterday and... to be honest, thought it was a great idea but didn't really give a lot of thought to putting it into action. But today, I'm realizing that your suggestions keep slipping back into my mind and I really want to make a habit of doing something like this on a daily basis. I often think that I should do more to reach out to others, but then I set my standards to high and end up doing nothing. This is an easy and meaningful way to do just what I've been wanting to do. THANK YOU!