I spoke at a seniors' function on giving last week as part of a fundraiser. Our target was $50,000, which was matched by a donor for a total of $100,000. It was a difficult environment. I spoke with my heart; however, I was not sure if my message resonated with the audience.

I had to leave soon after to pick my son up from school so was not sure how we did. While driving to pick up my son, I was feeling a bit disappointed that I was not as convincing and moving as I could have been.

I just returned from a 6 week trip and was greeted by the book Go Givers Sell More by Bob Berg and John David Mann. My friend John David Mann had shipped it to me.

Although I had gone through the earlier draft of the book (I even endorsed it and promoted it on my own Facebook page, our Facebook fan page and Twitter), I read the book again and thoroughly enjoyed reading the final version. In fact, I read it cover to cover and could not put it down!

I loved the powerful examples, the simplicity and the insights around selling. My favorites were:

Planning and organizing creates clarity around priorities.

Some time spent on planning every evening before you hit the sack has your subconscious mind working while you are asleep. You wake up hitting the ground running!

It is also a good idea to periodically review where you are at 2 or 3 times a day. Instead of zooming through every task that hits your desk, you reflect on your key priorities and weekly goals, and execute tasks around them.

Give yourself a fresh start by giving up all your past baggage.
The past is not equal to the future. Learning from the past is good; however, all that matters is what you do now!
If your whole life depended on how you lived today, how would you spend the day?
Plan your day based on this approach and see how dynamic, focused and energetic your giving is today.

The best way to give now is to begin by giving yourself a fresh start!

There are certain things that are therapeutic for me such as:

- exercising
- meditation
- listening to soothing music
- walking near a park or water
- organizing my room or office
- cleaning my car or house
- giving service to others including family and friends

When I do one of the above activities I get an energy gain, not an energy drain! I know some people find cooking or running to be therapeutic.

How about you? Do you know what is therapeutic for you?

Today, I spoke to a group of voluntary leaders and their spouses in Calgary.

One of the issues that came up was "Spousal Management" referring to leader spouses who get carried away in voluntary work and sometimes forget their family!

It is important to do both. First comes home then the world. Time/self/energy management helps in being able to navigate one's time and energy to balance the commitment.

However, charity begins at home!
 

If you keep asking the question "Why" to each of your goals, you will go deeper and find out the root reason of why you do what you do.

This may lead you to either reinforce the goal, or revise the goal or even drop the goal!

It is better to drop a goal which is not going to serve your deep desires. That time could be invested to give and make a difference!

Here's a great idea that I'm stealing from Joseph Jaffe and Mitch Joel (thank you)... but with a twist.
I am auctioning off a "Power of Giving" keynote presentation with 100% of the proceeds going to Oxfam for - Haiti Relief.
I am putting a reserve at $10 000.

If you get a good idea or new insight act upon it right away! If you don't, it loses it's impact. Also, you may forget what you learned. However, if you act upon it right away, you set the wheels in motion. You benefit from implementing a good idea.

You also have the potential to internalize the message and gain even deeper insights. Most of us moves quickly to the next thing. However, a better strategy is to deeply understand what you've learned.

With my travel schedule, my wonderful habit of getting up early sometimes gets messed up. 

However, last night I managed to sleep early and wake up early. I got so much done this morning, really amazing!
I asked myself, "why don't I do this every day?"

We all have peak times in our day. For me it is 2 am!! I know it is a crazy time for most people. However, it works great for me especially when I am able to sleep by 9 pm.