Give

Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach him how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime. -- Lao Tzu

We often think we are helping someone by just giving him what he has asked for. We think that now that he has what he wanted, he should be happy. We forget that we are building a relationship of dependency. Now, in order for him to get what he wants, he must get it from us and we still can choose whether or not we will give that to him. We are creating a relationship where we have all the power. And that can only lead to resentment on the part of the other person.

The best way that you can help someone else is to show him how he can get what he wants by himself. That empowers him to take care of his own needs without having to rely on someone else. He doesn't have to keep asking you for help and you don't have to keep giving it. There is no guilt or resentment from either party. It makes him feel good about himself, and therefore, about you too. Everyone wins.

Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach him how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime. Education is so important for all of us. All of us are teachers and all of us are students. There isn't one of us who doesn't need to learn how to improve in some way, and there isn't one of us who has nothing to share that can help someone else improve in some way.

To be successful, we must be open to having someone else show us how to do whatever we need to do instead of assuming that we can, or should be able to, do it all by ourself. And we must be willing to utilize our knowledge and skills to teach others how to do what they need to do in order to be successful. What do you need to learn, and who can you learn it from? Who could benefit from your knowledge and how can you share it with them?