Brian Tracy argues the best gifts are ones you already have: your time, skills, experience, and love. He uses O. Henry's "The Gift of the Magi" to show why personal sacrifice matters more than money, then walks through concrete examples like offering to help with taxes, spending a day with family, or mentoring someone.
Hello, I'm Brian Tracy and today I want to give you some tips on gifts that you can give that you already have and don't cost any money. What are the best gifts you can give that you already have? The answer requires a self inventory and they have nothing to do with money or balancing accounts. They are the inherited gifts talent in your DNA as well as those you earn skills and judgment through your life experiences. As the holiday season approaches, consider giving gifts that are more of yourself and less of your bank account. There's a classic short story by O. Henry called the Gift of the Magi. It's a wonderful story, replete with comic irony about gift giving. I studied it in High School 60 years ago. The young couple in the story decide to exchange secret Christmas gifts but were very poor. The only way they could pay for the gifts was by selling something that they treasured. Jim sold his grandfather's gold pocket watch. Della sells her long luxurious hair with the money they earned. Jim bought a set of combs for the hair of Della and Della a watch fob for Jim's grandfather's watch. The lesson in gift giving lies not only in the irony, but also how they gave something they already had as an act of love and selflessness. Over 100 years later, we can apply that lesson to our own personal and professional lives and give more of ourselves, our time and our talents to those who enrich our lives. By the way, one of the best ways to to give more time to other people is to leave the television off. If it's on, turn it off and if it's off, leave it off and spend that time face to face, head to head, knee to knee with members of your family. Sometimes the automatic and times expensive practice of routinely exchanging gifts through habit typically ends up becoming stressful, especially after years of trying to find that perfect gift for someone who nowadays has everything or who can get everything through Amazon in 24 hours. During ordinary circumstances, what a person needs from the gift giver can rarely be satisfied by material things. Christmas cards with best wishes or some other thoughtful act will suffice. Here are some of the best ways that we can give the best gifts that we already have. First, you can give your skills and talents. As we mentioned earlier, you have a family member, friend or colleague who is absolutely hopeless at something that you do well and easily. Perhaps you have writing, computer or accounting skills. Those are gifts that you can give to others. You can give someone a certificate for one hour, free computer analysis and tune up or prepare a coupon for a specified number of free reports or schoolwork editing sessions. You can also offer to do a free federal and state tax return for your parents or someone they know. Second, you can give your time. You have probably heard the advice that if you want something done, give it to the busiest person you know. What that busy person does is to make time. Ask that person how they do it and the answer usually includes the notion of focus. Focus is the antidote to distraction and ignoring conflicting demands. Focus and make the time to give of yourself. This holiday season. You can schedule some US time with your partner and do only what the partner wants, even if it includes the exercise that you have been neglecting or volunteer work that you have been avoiding. You can take your vacation time and sever the ties that binds you to your email and social networks. Instead, dedicate the time to your family and pledge to allow each member the right to specify some activity. Go to a different location or some form of recreation or a dining option. We all go out together. If you have people working for you, give them a choice of a paid personal time day for the upcoming year. This could be in addition to any holiday bonuses that they have earned. Make a certificate and enclose it in a thoughtful holiday card and take the time to write a thank you note for all their hard work this year. Third, you can give your life skills and experience. The old saying you can't take it with you applies here. The insights and good judgment you possess amount to more than the wealth that you have accumulated during a lifetime of experience. You have learned from your mistakes, but you didn't learn everything that way. The best leaders and the best human beings realize that their true value to others is how willingly they give of their skills and experiences. If you know someone who struggles with project management or difficult academic work, offer to help them. If you see an employee whose performance is slipping, intervene and try to help the person get to the root cause of the problem. If you're retired, look for opportunities to mentor family and friends who could benefit from your lifelong professional experience. The information age does not and never will co opt the need for judgment and analytical power of the mature human brain. Here's where you can use your imagination and creativity this holiday season. Look around and you'll find plenty of clever examples of how with a little imagination, you can come up with some truly love induced yet relatively cost free gifts. Before we wrap up, I'd like to leave you with a thought to share with your friends and followers. The greatest gift that you can give to others is the gift of unconditional love and acceptance. Now. I'd love to hear from you. So my question today is what gifts do you have that you can give to others? Leave a comment below and I'll be sure to follow up with you. Thanks for watching. And remember, if you want to change your future, take action. And take action now. If you enjoyed this video and feel it was valuable in teaching you about thankfulness and gratitude, subscribe to my channel like this video and share this video with your friends. Don't forget to click the button on the screen for a free gift. Thanks again for watching.
