Make it a win-win, or at least try – End of the Day for September 7, 2014

In everything I do — personal, professionally, online, offline — I try my best to make everything I do a win-win or everyone involved and I personally find this to be the best way to love my life. It isn’t always easy and can sometimes mean extra work for me, but it is something I believe deeply. I try to apply this in all areas of my life, from large to small. If I share something online, sure, I hope people will visit the web site, blogs or otherwise interact with the post, but I also try to post and share items that have value to them. I get the attention and they, hopefully, gets some piece of information that makes their life a little better, a little more useful, a little more fun. As with all things in life, I don’t succeed every time, but I believe there is value in, at least, trying. Otherwise, I would feel as if I am simply taking, taking, taking and not giving anything back. Even if others didn’t feel that way, I would still feel it and it would bother me.

This was all brought to mind after a busy, busy day yesterday. Rosanne and I had asked the local brewer for a donation to the school’s annual Casino Night. Normally I avoid those types of events, but since we had a big WIN in their donation, i wanted to make sure they had a WIN, too. This meant I volunteered to serve up the beer at the event. I did this for several reasons. I wanted to make sure the brew was served up in the best manner and presented in the best light. I also wanted the chance to talk with people about the brewery, the beer they make and the contributions they being to our community. Sure, this meant extra work for me, but I felt, personally, that I needed to take these extra steps to fulfill my part of the “agreement.”

There are times i wish other people thought this way a bit more, but I can’t control them. I can only control my own actions and behaviors and try to do the best I can and provide a good example. I will say, though, that I quickly learn to avoid anyone who doesn’t believe in a win-win. There are far to many of these people in society today and it has taken me some time to learn this lesson, but I would much rather put my energies into something that benefits everyone and not just one side — or a small selection — of the participants. It doesn’t seem right. It doesn’t seem fair and it certainly isn’t a Win-Win situation.

Previously on End of the Day: