Yesterday, I blogged about how our life is a story that is being written everyday.  The choices we make determine what our story will be about.  We can either have a great story or a seemingly dull story based on how we approach each day.  In order to live a great story then we have to decide wether or not we will embrace certain rules to live by.  Just like in writing there are rules of grammer and structure, so our lives have rules that govern our well-being and effectiveness.  If we can learn to live by these simple rules then we will develop a greater story of our life.

The first rule to live by (which I blogged about earlier) is “ALWAYS MAKE YOUR FUTURE BIGGER THAN YOUR PAST”.  Today I want to dive into Rule #2…

Always make your CONTRIBUTION bigger than your CONSUMPTION 

This rule is about adopting a “NO ENTITLEMENT ATTITUDE”.  It is about giving more than we receive.  This means we have to make a valuable contribution to others before you expect to deserve anything from them.  Many people live life with a…”I will scratch your back if you will scratch my back.” type mentality.  They wait for others to make a contribution before they return the favor.  But those that live a great story are those that contribute more than they consume.  They contribute to the relationships around them more than they take from the relationships around them.

When it comes to RELATIONSHIPS we have to deposit into them before we can withdrawal from them.  It is like a RELATIONSHIP BANK ACCOUNT, what we put into it is what we will get out of it, no more, no less.  If our approach to life is to only do what we will be rewarded for, we won’t get far in this story of life.  Abraham Lincoln once said, “It is amazing how much you can accomplish when it doesn’t matter who gets the credit.” Be the kind of person that does more than is asked of you, go the extra mile.  Forgive even if it isn’t returned to you by others.  Love unconditionally.  Give without asking anything in return.  I believe God measures our contribution by the seeds we sow not the harvest we reap.  It is more blessed to give than to receive.  When your contribution is bigger than your consumption you will always live a blessed life.  It is when we flip the scales and expect more than we give that life gets messed up.  When we think we are entitled to “get” we allow pride, selfishness, jealousy, anger, and bitterness to creep into our story.  When these traits creep into our story it always takes a wrong turn for the worse.

So the challenge is to live a life of contribution each and every day.  Go out of your way to contribute to others without any strings attached to it.  Do things that will add value to others without a “hidden agenda” behind it.  As Zig Ziglar always says…“You can have anything you want in life if you will help enough other people get what they want!” Contribute to others first and you will find that life falls into place.