The Business of being Helpful
I gain a lot from the help of others. I absorb a lot of experience and knowledge vicariously through other people. It’s a really great thing. Helping others is an important part of my life.
Why?
Because so many people have helped me along the way. Example: today in my verilog programming course, I asked the person sitting next to me for some help. I couldn’t get my circuit to operate properly and I needed to provide a demo by the end of class. He was eager to help me troubleshoot the problem and even went out of his way to stay an hour after class to debug a problem I was having. This is help. This is someone who is not only passionate about the topic but also willing to help someone he’s just met for the first time. The amount of respect I have for people like this is very high. You could easily ignore a person and tell him you can’t help. It saves you time. It saves you the potential of impatience. It saves you from a lot of things. I didn’t get to demo my circuit to the processor. But that’s besides the point. The experience I had is much more valuable than a trivial demo.
I try to actively return favors to the people who have helped me. I’ve offered job openings to friends, free things, lunch, etc. However I can. And I try to help as many people as I can because I know what it feels like to be stuck or helpless. It’s a pretty sucky feeling.
So help people. It’s a business. A good business too if you play your chips right. Trust me.
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April 4th, 2007 at 6:38 pm
I hate when people post comments on the last line of my entries but haha, i couldn’t help myself. One of the most sticking things our friend Angela N ever told me was that people give businesses money as a form of expressing gratitude for helping or enabling them to do things they couldn’t do by themselves.
In other words people are more then willing and happy to separate from their hard earned savings when you help and provide real value to them. “So help people. It’s a business. A good business too if you play your chips right.”
-Nii
April 4th, 2007 at 9:00 pm
Interestingly enough this is where human morality comes from. Which is why I get so angry when I hear theists say atheists have no morals. Morals don’t come from god, morality (or cooperation) is the greatest evolutionary trait humans developed.
Also it gives you a warm fuzzy feeling inside when you help someone out :)
April 4th, 2007 at 9:26 pm
Charn said it beautifully!
In my business, helping people out is extremely rewarding! Most times they don’t appear to appreciate the assistance I give them, however.
April 5th, 2007 at 1:55 am
Entries like this one makes coming back to your blog worth while.
April 5th, 2007 at 4:55 am
Helping others is a win win situation.
April 5th, 2007 at 11:52 am
Great entry, Tony. Thanks for advocating helping others =)
Take it easy,
Vic
April 5th, 2007 at 1:12 pm
Maybe he was just bored and had nothing else to do. Haha…just my thoughts.
April 7th, 2007 at 1:52 pm
Helping out can be fun, and nearly always repays in some way. If I help someone out with some CSS problem theyll maybe point out my poor punctuation.