There is a commonly accepted ideology in society that as long as something isn’t affecting a particular individual directly, then it’s someone else’s problem. This goes a lot further than just the bi-stander effect or the term “NIMBY” (Not In My Back Yard). It ties into how we view the world and dictates how we interact with our environment. How we interact with our environment directly effects how what “happens” to us in life. Therefore, it’s safe to say that how we view other people’s problems correlates with whether we will find success in our lives, whatever our own individual definition of “success” may be.
According to Tony Robbins (motivational speaker, personal finance instructor, life coach and self-help author), the pinnacle of success and ultimate fulfillment is in helping others. It’s a long shot to say that just helping everyone you know with their problems will MAKE you successful. It’s more likely that people who are inclined to help other people, volunteer in their communities, raise money for charity, etc. have several other traits that leads to financial, personal, and professional success. In other words, correlation is not necessarily causation.
So, if we KNOW that helping others won’t necessarily lead to PERSONAL success, then why do we do it?
At Fire Inc, we believe that reaching out to members of the Atlanta community who aren’t in a position to help themselves has a lot more to do with success from a holistic standpoint than just an item on a to-do list in order to reach success. We believe that giving our time to others helps us learn humility, civic responsibility, and empathy, develops self confidence, provides networking opportunities, and improves our society and the individual lives of those in it.
Much of our efforts this year at Fire Inc Atlanta have been focused on the global charity Operation Smile. We have an intense desire to help this organization reach its goals and milestones and are focused on raising funds throughout the entirety of 2015. Operation Smile provides medical missions to other countries that allows children with cleft lip/pallette to lead healthier lives, both physically and mentally, as a result of free surgical procedures. Medical professionals from around the world donate their time to go on these mission trips to conduct surgeries for children who would otherwise be haunted with a lifetime of health problems and public ridicule.
Again, we know that helping others won’t necessarily lead you to ultimate success, but it isn’t going to hurt either. So, what are you waiting for? There are several ways to get involved in giving back to others. Get involved in local groups. Go pick up trash at the park. Go door-to-door to raise funds for whatever cause you feel passionately about and donate that money to the group. Even if you don’t become super successful later in life, you’ll have left your mark on the world.
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Fire, Inc. Atlanta, GA 