The Giving Challenge 2015

In 1963 the film Cleopatra starring Elizabeth Taylor was released. At the time, despite being the highest grossing film of the year, it made a huge loss against a 44 million dollar budget. Ten years later due to rentals and a number of television deals it finally broke even. Ten years of ticking over returns and deals to finally get to a point where it made money. Books that make bestseller lists for extended periods are not there because they have had one week of great sales, rather they are there because they consistently sell over time-even if it relatively few a day. It is the daily drip of sales over time that fills the coffers eventually. In the grip of a world fascinated by instant news and the momentary glory of a thousand retweets (before being drowned out by someone else’s noise) we have forgotten the power of daily showing up.

We are currently just under a month away from Christmas and I want to issue a daily challenge to all you Zachians who are interested in making a difference. It is a chance for you to show up every day and do something special. The Giving Challenge is to give away something every day between now and Christmas Day. It may be food to a streetkid, an extra something for your clients, or a gift to a staff member. Size of the giving is not important. Share a piece of business wisdom a day on your blog. Give a lift, not because you need to charge someone a dollar for fuel in your car but because you are helping someone get somewhere. Start giving. You can make it the same act every day or you can vary it as you go. You can start small and get bigger as we approach Christmas or you can stay at the same level daily. I don’t mind-this is your giving story that you are working on. In a season where things may be difficult financially and cash flows are harsh this is an opportunity to get away from thinking about ourselves and to think about others.

The secularisation of Christmas with its focus on material gifts has watered down the power of an act of generosity; thirty minutes helping an elderly person repair their home, creating and uploading a free piece of music online. The old tradition of helping someone cross a busy road had been lost to many of us.

Feel free to write and tell me your experiences as you go, especially of you do something really creative, but this is not some publicity stunt. If no one ever finds out about what you do then that is okay too. Nor is this levering some form of mystical karma. I have heard many messages that talk about the reciprocity of giving-that if you give then you get back more. I am not denying that this may happen but give simply because being generous is a better way to live.

Some of us need to start with giving in our families. By giving our kids an hour of our time a day, or giving an underappreciated spouse more compliments and face time.

The multiplier effect can be staggering. It is one thing for me to do an act of giving every day, but when you all join me, when you get your entire office involved, when your family starts looking for opportunities to give then we begin to make a real impact. Everyone wants a better Zimbabwe: what are you doing about it?

Be intentional about giving. Look for the opportunity. Set it in your mind every morning before you leave the house. Perhaps you are not sure where you can best make a difference, set the intention and the opportunity will jump out at you.

Push through daily for a month. Pay attention to how you feel, to your attitudes and internal emotions. Introspection may highlight a few areas that you need to work on. As you meet the needs of others perhaps a few solutions may present themselves that you could look at and scale into a business. Generate a habit of generosity in your life between now and Christmas. At the end of it we may just all be a little bit richer.