The Transformative Power of Giving

When you are not being yourself, fully, authentically alive and aware of the energy you are putting into this world, don't pretend you're a generous person. Because at a fundamental level, generosity is in form of energy. Generosity is having a awareness and acknowledgment and an appreciation for other people, for, for their story, for their challenges, and for their contributions to your life. Generosity. Today we're going to talk about generosity. What does it mean and how do you actually apply it in a way to tangibly improve the quality of your life? You know, this topic today is really vital to how you feel. You know, common sense is not always common practice and that's why so many people fail to ever attain their full potential. And so I'm here today to talk about this topic. We all would say, is it true everyone thinks they're generous? Oh no, of course. But I'm a generous person. I'm giving, I'm thoughtful, you know, I'm a generous person. But most people truly energetically are not a lot of people, they're not generous, they're takers. And I know some of you have been in a relationship with somebody like that before. Some of you had business or co workers like that before. I mean, I'm sure many of you have known people who were takers. They took your energy, they took your trust, they took your money, they took from you. And you just, it's just, it's just clear. And no one likes when you say that. But the truth is that there are generous people in this world and there are takers in this world. And being blind to either of them doesn't serve us. So forgive me when I talk about being generous. I'm going to be honest and say most people, a tremendous number of people have never been really, I guess, activated in this way. It's not that they don't have a generous spirit or heart, it's just that they're not practicing it. Remember, common sense, not always common practice. And that's why people struggle so much. So let's jump in to this topic of this generosity. I thank you guys all for being here. First hint, first blush, let's get into it. Number one, you've got to give full spirit. I know this is going to sound a little hokey bokey to some of you and some of you are going to like, oh my God, here's this guy, you know, some new age stuff here. However, what I'm going to tell you is you must learn to be responsible for the energy you are projecting into this world. And what most people do is they stop that very projection, that full outlet of power. So you see that person get up on stage and they're kind of holding back or they go to communicate their wants, their needs, their desires, their dreams. And what do they do? They hold back. And what do they do in relationships? They're always protecting themselves in some metaphor, in some way. They are literally holding themselves back. That's not being generous. When you are not being yourself, fully, authentically alive and aware of the energy you are putting into this world. Don't pretend you're a generous person because at fun, at a fundamental level, generosity is in form of energy. Like when you give full transference to the world of who you are and are conscious of that energy you are putting out there. You are conscious of bringing positive energy into people's lives because you fully show up. That. That's what I mean. To give full spirit means to fully show up. To give your full presence, your full heart, your full soul into your mission, your art, your relationships, your day, this very moment, my friends, guess what that is generosity. When you lie, when you hold back, when you bring negative energy in, that is not generous. And I know you know this, but think about how often people do this. And you hear me talk about this. You can't reach the high performance experience in life. Playing half speed, living half heartedly, being half interested, being half assed at your art or your career. But that's what most people are doing. They're in, they got one toe in the water, they never dove in. So think about that how impacts their life or your life. Think about how crappy that makes you feel in a relationship. When you're with, have you ever been in a relationship with somebody who is half in the relationship? It was like they were always about to leave, they were always threatening to break up with you, divorce you, leave you. What does that make you feel like? That's misery. And a lot of people do that. But take that same metaphor of how people do that in relationships, they do that in their career. Going through the motions, simply just going through the motions, simply just showing up and going through the motions. That is not success. That is not ever going to help you reach high performance or abundance or success in your life. And I know you know this. So ask yourself though, have you been fully showing up, fully present, I mean completely engaged in the activities and relationships and art and mission of your day. Because if you've been just like kind of going through the motions, that's why you're miserable, because you Know what our spirit wants? Full power, baby, full power. Full generosity into the moment. See, so many people, they want the universe to give them great things. Oh, I wish the universe would give me this. I wish the universe would give me that. But you're so distracted or so half hearted, the world's like, sometimes, why? Why give it to you when this other person's showing up? Why give it to you when this person's hungry, available, present, passionate, engaged, enthusiastic. I know you know this. Do you got a little more that you could give? Do you have a little bit more that you could show up in a different way? Is it true that there's more energy that you could output? See, don't be one of those people who go on stage and get proper and kind of try to, you know, project some air of credibility. It's like, no, no. When you go into full authenticity, full vulnerability, full engagement with the present moment, that's generosity. And that will change your life forever. And what do you see right now? This whole worldwide, you know, transition into this concept of mindfulness. Why is everybody seeking out yoga and mindfulness now at levels we've never seen? Why is everybody talking about meditation right now? Why is. Why is everybody talking about presence right now? Because they tried living the crappy other way and it didn't work. They know they were faking it. They know they were showing up half already. They know they didn't even notice any of the minutes. They noticed they didn't focus. And I tell everybody, it's like, yeah, Bren, I wish I could have this. And they think about the law of attraction. I want all these things. And I go, you know, perhaps the universe isn't giving you what you truly want. Because simply based on all of your distractions, it's unclear what it is you are asking for. But as you show up full, energetically full generosity into the moment, the world goes, woo. Feel that energy, feel that pull. And all of a sudden you attract the things that you want because you are outputting the things that you are. So, generosity, my friends, first step, give full spirit, full spirit into everything that you do. Everything. Every single time. If it's your moment to serve, show up. Full power. You got it. Number one, my friends, give. Full spirit. That is the essence of generosity. Number two, give credit, give credit, give credit. Generosity is having a awareness and acknowledgement and an appreciation for other people, for their story, for their challenges, and for their contributions to your life. And it's tremendously, tremendously disheartening. How many people never do that? Because we're in this world where it's all about, you know, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, selfie, selfie, selfie. And I always, you hear me say that all the time. It's like the selfie, like, mindset versus the service mindset. And so everybody wants their own recognition, their own praise. Everybody wants parades around them, cheering them on. And they' they're never giving credit to other people. Generosity is acknowledging people. It's why if you ever hear me teach, every stage I have been on for 16 years, I say the same basic line like, I say, hey, it's honored for me to share my message with you. But I also want to let you know that's only because I'm blessed to be the ripple effect, a student of this very industry. Like, I am a product of my own industry. And that industry to me is personal development and the psychology. I could never do what I do if it wasn't for personal development. Teachers and trainers like a Dale Carnegie, a Earl Nightingale, a Jim Rohn, a Zig Ziglar. If it wasn't for Wayne Dyer, Louise Hayes, Marianne Williamson, Debbie Ford, if it wasn't for people like Tony Robbins or my more contemporary people who I still look up to and admire, I would have known this was a career option. I wouldn't have got into it. So why do I say that? Because I'm never like, I'm Brendan Burchard, I'm fancy. I'm always like, no, no, I learned from all these people. I did all the research. Who. I learned from these people. Because in psychology, same things. If I hadn't studied, like Alfred Adler or Albert Mandura, if I didn't know the work of Carl Rogers or Abraham Maslow, if I hadn't deep dived into more contemporary studies, whether it's Angela Duckworth or Marty Seligman or Mihaly Csikhsenihalyi, there's no way I could teach you guys this stuff. So I do the work, but I always give credit. And we live in a world right now where everyone is taking credit of other people's stuff. You guys know I create four original quotes for you every single day on social media, right? For 16 years. Do you know what's happening in the marketplace right now? You got all these big guys who have millions of fans who they went and they took these quotes from me and lots of other people in the industry and they stripped the name off and they make the quote, but they don't give the credit to it and they put it on their own social media and which is basically taking credit for it. And this happens all the time. And I can't. I mean, literally, I scroll through for even some of my friends, I see that's my quote. They have the quote. They just didn't put my name on it. And they don't give it in the credit down below. Now, I don't care about that because for me, I have, you know, the credit of doing my books and everything else like that. But what a different level of respect and professionalism it is when you give credit to your mentors, when you give credit to people you learn from, you access. Like, we all want to be like the person without giving credit. And I think that's terrible. Think about how many co workers you've had in the past where you contributed to a project. But then in the meeting they're like, I did it. And you're like, what about us, dude? And then you don't. They don't give credit to the people who serve them, the people who give it. Like, if you've ever seen me teach or talk, I'm always giving credit to my team. We. We recognize them at all my events. They get to stand up. I bring my mom up on the stage, my girl, if she's around, it's like, I'm always like, these people help shape all of this. I'm not some guy in the middle of nowhere. So have you been doing that though? And it's not just credit, like for people's work. It's also like appreciation of others. Here's how you know if you are a true generous spirit and you are practicing this one, baby, listen close, listen close. If you are judgmental and critical of other people, do not pretend you do this. Because giving credit also means recognizing the difficult road that all walk. You know, we got this society right now that speaks ill and speaks down to other people all the time. It drives me in crazy. I'm like, why is everyone speaking so poorly of other people as if they're so much better if like, once you actually have traveled the world, spent time with people who are sick, spent time with people who are dying, spent time with people who are. Have less than you. You stop forgive my language talking other people because you recognize that everybody is challenged, everybody has a tough road, everybody gets tired, has to manage their family, their work. Everybody has to show up each day and deal with the chaos of this universe. The good luck, the bad luck, the. The times they were taken advantage of. And hello, if you don't get this, do not Pretend you're a generous person because if you ever speak ill of others and you do it consistently and you're a judgmental person, you forgot the difficulties of life. You were so privileged or so wrapped in your bubble, you forgot that most people are struggling, that most people don't have a retirement fund. Most people have major health issues in their life that they don't know how to deal with. Most people have mental illness or mental challenges at some stage of their life. And here you are pretending to be better than other people. That superiority complex I talk a lot about in my book High Performance Habits, that that ends up being a killer of many successful people. They become successful and then they judge other people as less successful or as less hardworking and they start making fun of other people. And what they don't realize is that other people are at their own life stage and they don't have to be like you. And matter of fact, we found from the world's largest study of high performance, it's my book, High Performance Habits. I hope you guys have all read it. What we found from that study was unquestionably that when we talk to the highest performing people in the world, we also talked to them about the ups and down times. And there's no question that when they fell from their best performance in life, one of the things that they had adopted, which I didn't realize they did, was a superiority mindset. Because they thought they were better than the team, respected them less because they thought they were better than people, didn't want to be around them as much, and it ended up ruining their relationships. You ruin the relationships, you ruin your joy in life. You ruin your joy in your life, you ruin your creativity in life. And it's a domino effect. So please recognize if you are a critical or judgmental person, tap back into your humanity. Get your butt down to the soup kitchen, volunteer a little bit, go see what this world is really like. And once you recognize that so many people really do deeply struggle because they didn't have the education, they didn't have the access, they didn't have the privilege, they didn't have the resources, they didn't have as many opportunities. And people can say, well, yeah, but people, lots of people don't have those things and they succeed wildly. I'm like, yes, a very small percentage, about 15% do their own willpower and self reliance overcame that. And I admire those people and I study those people, but I also recognize that lots of people have lots of things, but then they get sick and their Performance goes down. Look at my performance last month. It'd be embarrassing if you followed me around and oh well, this is Brendan. If you followed me in the last month you said that's Brendan. That'd be embarrassing because I wasn't healthy, I was sick. And when you get sick, I'm telling you, your performance dials down. So can you judge me for my last four weeks of output versus my last 16 years? I hope not. But that's exactly what people do. They take a short term window into somebody and they fail to recognize the humanity of all. And so please recognize that. Don't consider yourself a generous person unless you are practicing giving consistent credit. You give me if you come to my events, you see me all the time giving credit to every single person I have learned from and I quote and I recognize and I celebrate and everybody in our industry. Why? Because when someone else is doing their best, help you out, give credit. Last big idea for you guys today, number three, give empowerment. To be generous with other people is to ultimately empower them. And that empowerment might mean different things. That empowerment can be you empower them to have a more positive mindset. That can be empowerment. Empowerment can be you empower them with a job and financial resources. Your empowerment can be you give them information and training. Your empowerment can be just cheering them on and believing in them when they themselves don't yet believe in themselves. Like empowerment takes a lot of different connotations. But I know that one thing that happens is when you are more generous with the world by seeking to empower others, by seeking to lead them and show them that they can lead themselves, you change this world and that level of generosity is everything. Are you empowering your kids to make better choices, to believe in themselves to achieve their dreams? Are you empowering your team to lead? Are you giving them decision making, authority and autonomy so that they can get better? Are you empowering those around you by training, mentoring, coaching, serving them? In other words, have you been able to turn off the selfie mindset and turn on the service mindset and give a darn about helping other people become better? Better. That's what we are always trying to do here in all my companies. We're always trying to help you become more so it's like here's more, here's more free podcasts, here's more free videos, here's more free lives. Whatever we can do for you, we are always. My entire career, every day is focused on empowering my community. So I hope you'll share this with somebody who you appreciate somebody who, you know, you might also share with somebody who maybe needs to hear this message, who's going through life a little bit half hearted, who maybe is, you know, not fully engaged, fully present somebody you know, you're like, man, they just don't. They're not seeing beyond themselves yet. And sometimes sharing this type of stuff is a form of empowerment to them too. Generosity. It is an energy that you put out into the world by showing up fully into the moment. And you give full spirit, full energy, full, full vibrancy, full engagement in your day. You also give credit. Meaning generosity is being generous with your judgments about other people. Meaning, be generous, give them the benefit of the doubt, be understanding of the difficulties and challenges people go through, withhold your cynicism, withhold your criticism, withhold your judgment, and be a generous person energetically to others by giving them understanding and empathy. And number three, give empowerment. Empower other people with good energy, knowledge, resources, jobs, support, education, training, whatever you can to help them live their best life. Because by helping others live their best life, that's you living your best life.