by Kevin
Achieving success is lonely when you aren’t involving and giving to other people. The best way to involve other people is to serve other people. There are two ways to serve others--giving your time and giving your money. Those are two things we like to hold on to too tightly, but holding on doesn’t allow others in and leaves you missing out.
I have found that the most meaningful and fulfilling activities, relationships, and purpose have come through my involvement in the community. If you aren’t actively engaging in your community, you are missing out on your potential! We need a reason for getting up in the morning, and there is no better reason than serving your community.
There are many ways you can serve your community. If you are part of a religious organization that gathers in a fellowship setting, that is the easiest and most obvious way to get involved. A common mission statement among many religious organizations is to build relationships and serve the surrounding community. If you feel good about the leadership of your organization, why not get involved? However, there are many other ways to get involved with the people who surround you. United Way is one of my favorite organizations. Perhaps I can only speak locally from OKC, but it is a well-managed and fruitful organization worth your time and money. Other organizations that I’ve seen young professionals engage with are as follows: Chamber of Commerce, Young Professionals Network, their Alma mater (always good connections to be made there...don’t forget about it), Big Brother Big Sisters, Coaching, mentoring, Humane Society, etc). There are so many organizations that need your assistance!
You don’t need to have accomplished all of your goals before you begin to serve your community...get involved today! Perhaps you don’t have the time yet, so start with your money. As I have heard before, your heart goes where your money goes, so start investing in your community!
by Adam
I’ve had the opportunity to be involved with a couple different non-profits over the early stage of my career. If you’re a high achiever, you’re probably thinking: “How in the world am I supposed to make time for that? I’m barely scraping by as it is!”
But, on the “making time” front, I’ll offer you an analogy that holds true for me (and may for you too!). Community involvement is a lot like going to the gym. It’s easy to tell yourself you’re “too busy” or you’ll tackle it “another time.” It’s also easy to rationalize that, missing a couple opportunities to engage in the activity won’t be the worst thing in the world. You have your whole life ahead of you! Plenty of time.
Fair enough! There are some periods of my life that have been genuinely busier than others, where putting one more thing on my plate just wasn’t an option. But, at the same time, it’s easy to keep talking yourself into that mindset, look back later, and realize its a part of your life that has been severely neglected.
On the flip side: as Kevin said, there are huge benefits! But they’re more than surface level deep. Just like you can’t become a world-class athlete by throwing some weights around in the gym in the first week in January every year, you can’t really accrue the benefits of community involvement by treating it like a “check the box” activity. At some point, you just have to dive in!
On the monetary side, the same rules apply. It can be hard to, on a one time basis, mentally sacrifice something you want (a vacation, a fancy new thing, etc.) for charitable giving. So, plan ahead! Make giving a regular part of your household budget. Don’t set yourself up to make each decision to give a somber, sacrificial, excruciating battle of will power!
So, what are you waiting for? Get involved!