Christmas

Reminds me on the spirit of giving. Not just on the 25th December but rather on a regular basis. In Give and Take, organisational psychologist Adam Grant’s research has shown how despite being taken advantage of and receiving the short end of the stick, givers ultimately “achieve extraordinary results” (i.e. receive social recognition as a result of their contributions) across the board in the long term compared to takers (what’s yours is mine and what’s mine is mine) and matchers (eye-for-an-eye peeps).

However, this is not the reason why I adopt a giving mindset. I choose to adopt a giving mindset because it meets my need for contributing to the wellbeing of others. If I’m motivated to give to pursue “success”, then I wouldn’t last in the long run and suffer from burnout or “compassion fatigue”.

Perhaps this is something I need to work on; learning how to adopt an unconditional giving mindset.