When I got up this morning, it was 16 degrees. When it’s that cold, I know it’s time for a vacation to a tropical climate. It got me thinking about one of the best trips I ever had - spending two weeks on an island off the coast of Honduras. While there, I met Gunter, a forty-year-old artist, diver, and simple-living advocate.  His home was straight off the set of Gilligan’s Island with a thatched roof and open windows.  It was built high on stilts and surrounded by tropical plants.  The pathway leading up to his house had shells on it and an archway with artifacts he had collected.  He was my running buddy.  We would get up nearly every morning at five a.m.for a run around the island for what he described as a “Contra training” run.  He named it accurately, as we ran over volcanic rocks, soft beaches, through the woods, and up hills.  He had worn out more pairs of running shoes in year than most people did in a lifetime. After our run, we would go snorkeling in the beautiful reefs off the shore. 

During our time together,  I would ask him questions about the island and why he came to live there.  His answer, in his thick Austrian accent, was to describe the miracle of the sea, the sunrise, or a plant, flower, or bird. He also loved showing his business card, which read: “Rat Race Escape Artist.”  He had been a successful businessman in Austria, and something caused him to snap.  He was tired of the rat race.  He was tired of trying to keep up with the Joneses and tired of the materialism, so he moved to this island (which at the time, had only two working cars, very few televisions, and scarcity of telephones which had arrived just six months before).

Gunter hand-painted post cards, made jewelry from things he found in the sea, and occasionally lead a dive group to the most beautiful underwater scenery imaginable. It was the life he truly wanted.

Are you living the life you always wanted? If not, buy a plane ticket and fly to Honduras, take a commuter plane to Utila and look up the Rat Race Escape Artist.  Ask him if he wants to go for a Contra training run or swim.  Tell him I sent you. You’ll be glad you did.

Points to Ponder: Who has motivated you to live the good life? Give up the rat race? What does it mean to live a life of meaning?

Triva: Today is the birthday of Thomas Paine who said, “These are the times that try mens soul.” It’s also National Bubble Wrap Appreciation day. Pop some bubble wrap in celebration.

Tim Richardson is an inspirational speaker who speaks about how giving increases employee morale, lowers employee turnover, increases customer loyalty and creates higher profits for Fortune 500 companies, associations, and national conventions. He is the founder of the The Worlds Biggest Blog Party an event which will connect bloggers from all over the world to raise money for charity. He is also founder and president of the Bill Walter Melanoma Research Fund. For more information on Tim, go to www.TimRichardson.com

My friend Laurie Leslie, sent an email late last night which said: “These postings are great!  You’re officially added to my list of people’s blogs that I obsessively look at each day.” Because of her, I wrote back telling her that I felt I HAD to write before heading out of town this morning. So with the disclaimer below (required reading) and with great haste, I make today’s entry. This entry was in fact inspired by a post on her blog (see my links).  

The question was posed in Laurie’s blog: What stirs up your soul? I will address this question in more detail soon. It’s actually a point in my Living Rich keynote speech. I believe with all my heart and soul that nothing stirs up your soul like giving. Here’s my take: From continuously giving, you’ll experience continuous receiving.

Tomorrow, I hope to meet someone I have only spoken with on the phone. His name is Nagesh Roy. Every Saturday for over 16 years, Nagesh stirs up his soul by serving.
And.  he’s not missed one Saturday in those years (unless sick).  Starting in 1991, Nagesh has made sandwiches to give to the homeless in
Atlanta.  Initially, he started serving them through his temple but now just does it with a group of fourteen or fifteen friends.  On any given week, Nagesh and his friends serve about 100 homeless men, woman and children. He collects food (canned soup, sandwiches, apples, cookies, etc) to distribute to the hungry men and women in the
Atlanta area.  If he happens to be on vacation, he   makes sandwiches wherever he is. On the rare occasion when he is sick and isn’t able to serve, he told me he feels incomplete (translation: his soul doesn’t get stirred).

Serving has become his passion.  So much so that he even takes his service mentality to his employer – Fedex Kinko’s. Every day at work, he gives 15-20 minutes more than expected, work for which he doesn’t charge his employer.  It seems to have paid off, as Nagesh manages one of the top stores in the entire company.  The great thing about this is that he doesn’t tell anyone he is doing it and it almost always involves helping someone.

When he first moved to
Atlanta he decided that he would work for the Olympic Committee.  When they found out what he did on Saturday’s he was asked to carry the torch through a section of
Atlanta.  As he ran through the city, in the very area he served meals, those who he had fed, cheered him on as he ran (hum the Chariot’s of Fire theme music while you read the remainder of this for maximum motivation and inspiration). 

What a fitting example of the notion that what comes around goes around.  Though I don’t believe your motivation for doing something good should be the expectation that when you do something good, it will come back to you. I think that it is a universal principle that seems to repeat itself over and over again.

What you think? I’d like your thoughts on if you think there a correlation between his giving and his receiving AND to know what stirs YOUR soul?

Disclaimer: With this, and every blog entry, I run the risk of offending my English teachers. If you see grammar, punctuation, or spelling errors, don’t call the grammar police, please send an email with your observation, correction or suggestion. In fact, I am looking for an editorial board, to occasionally bounce ideas and entries for this blog.

If interested, please apply at:

 www.ICanHelpTimKeepFromEmbarrassingHimselfOnline.com

Tim Richardson is an inspirational speaker who speaks about how giving increases employee morale, lowers employee turnover, increases customer loyalty and creates higher profits for Fortune 500 companies, associations, and national conventions. He is the founder of the The Worlds Biggest Blog Party an event which will connect bloggers from all over the world to raise money for charity. He is also founder and president of the Bill Walter Melanoma Research Fund. For more information on Tim, go to www.TimRichardson.com

Today is my son Russell’s 11^th birthday. During Christmas, I took him with me to
Chicago as part of his birthday present and to meet Tom Tuohy, founder of Dreams for Kids. I interviewed Tom for my inspirational book, Living Rich. Each year, Tom has a Christmas party for 1200 children, many of whom were homeless, victims of domestic violence, or who had severe disabilities. We had decided to spend half of the day with the kids and the other half of the day at one of the best museums in Chicago. Russell has an inquisitive mind and loves discovering how things work. Visiting the Museum of Science and Industry, was the thing he was most excited about in the weeks leading up to our trip. I prepaid for the tickets on the internet so we would be able to get right in on a busy holiday weekend. We had ridden a train to the party location and so our return trip options were limited. When it came time to catch the train, Russell said he wanted to wait for the next train. When the second time came, Russell was very torn. He really wanted to go to the museum but he also wanted to stay at the party. I told him we couldn’t do both and that if we were going to go the museum, we’d have to take that train.

I told him that he could make the decision. I must confess, I recall being a little disappointed that he chose to leave. We were both having a great time. We walked across the street to the board the train. He seemed pensive as if already missing the kids who he had been helping to make Christmas cookies. As we were leaving, we were told that the arrival of Santa Clause was the highlight of the party and we would miss it if we left. We got to the train station and were moments away from getting on the train.  He said, “Daddy, I want to go back.  We can go to a museum any time. Let’s go see the kids experience Santa and help make more cookies.” We ran all the way back just in time to see the smiles and laughter as Santa arrived. A Gameboy or computer game was on his wish list. Instead he got a memory that will last him a life time. The kids gave my son a gift of exquisite joy by allowing him to help them.

At the party, Russell worked with Peggy Caldwell, Senior Vice President at ING Investment Management Americas, our new friend. I asked her about her experience there:   

“The word magical does come to mind. The term magic refers in this case as much to volunteers as to the kids.  I knew it would be a great day and a great experience. I also knew that I would meet people that I would want to maintain contact with.  There is this feeling that something is happening that is bigger than we are. Working at the cookie decorating table was amazing - we had no breaks and kids were lined sometimes two and three deep.  They kept coming back for more which was great.  The little kids were so serious about decorating the cookies and the big kids just wanted to pile it all on as many cookies as they were allowed. The cookies were a small way that the kids could spoil themselves.  Russell came over to me when one boy wanted to make three cookies at once - I said - let him go for it- he did and indeed came back a couple more times.   To me that is what this Christmas party was about - giving these kids a chance to soar, have fun, and experience magical memories.”   

That’s what birthdays should be about – magical memories.

Tim Richardson is an inspirational speaker who speaks about how giving increases employee morale, lowers employee turnover, increases customer loyalty and creates higher profits for Fortune 500 companies, associations, and national conventions. He is the founder of the The Worlds Biggest Blog Party an event which will connect bloggers from all over the world to raise money for charity. He is also founder and president of the Bill Walter Melanoma Research Fund. For more information on Tim, go to www.TimRichardson.com

 On the occasion of the 25th installment of Forbes annual 400 Richest American’s the filthy stinking rich got even filthy stinking richer (for the fifth consecutive year!)  In their 25th annual edition of The Forbes 400, the collective net worth of the nations wealthiest climbed from $120 billion to $1.25 trillion. A trillion dollars! (a ginzu knife set for the first person who tells me how many zeros in a trillion). Also notable, for the first time ever, everyone on the list is a billionaire. That’s with a B!

In fairness to Forbes, some of the people they profile are wonderfully generous. Bill Gates are Warren Buffett are certainly prime examples as are Google founders. There are others to be sure. What they support indeed has far reaching impact all over the globe.  I probably could have written about what difference they are making and how they are inspiring other wealthy Americans to give even more.  But they get lots of attention and their giving is easy – they have so much money it would make your head spin.  What about the everyday person.  The couple that lives in your neighborhood, you kids school teacher, the single mother one step away from welfare, the waitress at your favorite restaurant, and local civic group.  These are the people deserve the press and attention given to the mega wealthy (and you’ll meet some of those people occasionally in this blog).

Note:  I read recently that Bill Gates, founcer of Microsoft, said he wishes he wasn’t the richness man in America. Provided it wasn’t some urban legend, you could even write him and plead your case for financial help.  I went to Seattle to plead my case to Mr. Gates (actually, I just hoped I’d bump into him while giving a motivational speech to leaders in the credit union movement). I did interview some multi-millionaires for this book. I wanted to readers to see that it may not be everything it’s cracked up to be. One person I interviewed sold his internet company for well over 100 million dollars. He told me he really hated being rich. “The day I became rich, people around me changed,” he said. “I was still the same person but now everyone wanted a piece of me. I had ‘relatives and friends’ coming out of the woodwork”. He gave most of the money away to literacy programs noting that if you can’t read, you have no future. He said it’s so much more enjoyable to be a “regular guy” (granted he’s a regular who probably still has a few mil tucked away somewhere). Now he is living rich as a professional photographer and author. The week after Forbes released their list, I scanned the business magazines’ cover stories. Here’s what I saw on the covers as I quickly scanned them: two had Retire Rich! one featured Young Millionaires, another mentioned How Poor Nations Became Rich. Then as I walked out of the store I saw a book title Why We Want You to Be Rich. That was just a quick scan. When I Googled How to be Rich recently, I got about 240 million responses. Compare that with stories of people creating richness by investing in the lives of others. With the exception of one story in a column entitled “Do-Gooding”, the business publications I scanned seem intent to focus on how good (or rich) you could be, not on what good you could do. And Forbes and other publications only further perpetuate it.So, if you really want to be rich, richer than most on the Forbes list, trying giving. It cost nothing and produces the biggest return on investment ever measured. Here are some thoughts:

1. Inventory Your Interests – Matching your hobby or interests to a need, may fulfill a passion you already have though often experiencing something totally new will create a new interest. Whatever your interest, there is a need.

2. Find a Cause – When you start looking (and sometimes when you’re NOT looking) you’ll see, read, or hear about something that will stir your soul. If you have a bent toward complaining about how bad things are in (fill in the blank with a place in the world or your community), why not use the complaining energy volunteering in that area.

3. Start Close to Home – While I admire and respect the great work many are doing in all corners of the globe, there’s a lot to do in our back yard. Call your local United Way, church or synagogue, or a community outreach organization. You don’t have to travel far, to have far reaching impact.

4. Leverage Your Knowledge - Do you like computers? Photography? Web work? Sewing? Horticulture? Music? Some organization needs what you have.

5. Involve Your Friends and Family – If you have used age of children, size of family, or lack of time with friends as an excuse, participate in a volunteer project together.

6. Actions produce more richness than donations – Here’s some proof:

Ken Behring made a ton of money in his life. He also gave away a lot. But it wasn’t until he gave of himself that it made all the difference in the world (literally). His organization Wheelchair Foundation (www.wheelchairfoundation.org) has donated more than a half million wheelchairs to over 140 countries helping to eliminate immobility for an estimated 100 to 150 million people worldwide. “I spent too much of my life pursuing things money can buy. I’ve always given money to charity, but in the past I didn’t give myself with it. When you actually get an opportunity to personally help somebody, it changes your life. “ ‘Nuff said.

Question: Who is richest person you know and why?

Tim Richardson is an inspirational speaker who speaks about how giving increases employee morale, lowers employee turnover, increases customer loyalty and creates higher profits for Fortune 500 companies, associations, and national conventions. He is the founder of the The Worlds Biggest Blog Party an event which will connect bloggers from all over the world to raise money for charity. He is also founder and president of the Bill Walter Melanoma Research Fund. For more information on Tim, go to www.TimRichardson.com

I heard on the radio that January 23^rd is National Handwriting Day. The inspiration for this day was of course John Hancock.  You probably remember from history that Hancock was the first signer of the Declaration of Independence. His name was larger than anyone else who signed the document which is why when you sign your name to a document, it’s called giving your John Hancock. In memory and honor of John Hancock, and by the power vested in me by having access to great trivia and historical facts, I, Tim Richardson, official declare today, January 23^rd, as National Live Large Day. Here’s my insights on Living Large (I would love to hear what you think):

1) Be first at something - be a pioneer, an adventurer, a trend setter.  Think about the number of new innovations (Post-it Notes, E-bay, snowboarding) that you may have thought of first. Or how about investment opportunities (Google, Starbucks, Microsoft) that passed by you without action. Don’t you wish you hadn’t waited?  In my professional speaking business, some of my peers who were first in the web or blog world are getting more online exposure for their motivational speaking businesses than those who waited. Sitting back and waiting to see what everyone else does can hurt you. Don’t let indecision hold you back from acting, particularly when it involves your goals, your career, or your dreams for your life. 

2) Be a leader - John Hancock was a man who could accomplish big things. However vain he might have appeared, he had the good sense to surround himself with people who had great leadership potential. He commissioned George Washington as Commander and Chief of the Army of the united colonies in 1775.  He obviously knew something about human potential.  Be smart enough to recognize the strengths of those around you. Lead both by example and by being associated with others who possess skills you might not possess.  

3) Stand out - whether it’s signing your name to an important document for which you feel strongly or standing up to voice your views (even when they are in the minority), stand up by standing out. Be different. Don’t let the status quo rule your life. Just for fun, write you name somewhere today REALLY large  (not on the side of a building or bridge with a can of spray paint, please!).  Life’s too short to go unnoticed. Live Large today!  

Several years ago, my wife and I contemplated moving to Seattle.  I don’t think I would have made it. I love sunshine - clear blue sky days are my kind of days. So on this dreary and overcast day, it was with great interest that I read this morning that today is the most depressing day of the year (according to psychologist Cliff Arnall a former part-time lecturer at the University of Cardiff Centre for Lifelong Learning in Wales). So to depressed people everywhere -  CONGRATULATIONS Today is YOUR day!

In 2005, Arnall devised a formula to calculate the worst day. For 2005, it was Monday, Jan. 24; 2006 it was Monday, Jan. 23. This year, you guessed it, it’s today. 

Arnall’s so-called formula looks like this:  [W + (D-d)] x TQM x NA.

All of the letters and symbols apparently represent a sort of mathematical code to track the following:

W: How bad the weather is at this time of year.

D:  Amount of debt accumulated over the holidays minus how much is paid off.

T:  The time since the holidays.

Q: Amount of time passed since New Year’s resolutions have gone south.

M: Our general motivation levels.

NA: The need to take action.

Believe it or not, Arnall’s dreaded-day formula was originally commissioned as a public relations stunt for Sky Travel according to MSN. They used this day to promote travel. Shocking!

I believe action can help overcome the yuck feeling that might accompany post holiday blues, inactivity, crummy weather and even debt.  I also think that helping others can people over depression. 

One of the people I interviewed for my Richest People in America project (www.TheRichestPeopleinAmerica.com) told me that if people really knew how good it made you feel to do something good for others, there would be a lot less Prozac sold in the U.S.  

So I am going to use this day to motivate others to action (as soon as I get out of my bathrobe and slippers). Nay, maybe tomorrow or when the sun comes out. 

Tim Richardson is an inspirational speaker who speaks about how giving increases employee morale, lowers employee turnover, increases customer loyalty and creates higher profits for Fortune 500 companies, associations, and national conventions. He is the founder of the The Worlds Biggest Blog Party an event which will connect bloggers from all over the world to raise money for charity. He is also founder and president of the Bill Walter Melanoma Research Fund. For more information on Tim, go to www.TimRichardson.com