How much are you like Benjamin Franklin? Ben Franklin wrote, “I would rather have it said he lived usefully than he died rich.” 

Being useful was its reward for Franklin.  He reportedly asked two questions each day.  In the morning he would ask himself”. What good shall I do today”? His nighttime question for himself was “What good have I done today”? Franklin wanted to give to others.  He exemplified leadership with his attitude and actions. So perhaps you were wondering what about you and Ben Franklin?  Now you know.  Do you have his attitude and actions?

If you are similar to Franklin in those two ways, you also are similar in another way. You can’t give what you don’t have. When I thought about that notion, I immediately was taken back to my childhood on the farm in Vermont and maple sugaring season.  We used a sap tank atop a horse-drawn sled to gather sap from the buckets on the maple trees to take to the sugar house and empty into a holding tank.  From that holding tank, the sap was poured into the boiling pans to boil down 50 gallons of liquid to produce 1 gallon of syrup.  The illustration is simple, no fluid, no syrup.  The sap tank needed to be filled up before being able to contribute to the making of syrup.  The same is with each of us.  If we want to give away to others, we have to have something to give.  That, of course, requires the right attitude and actions combined.    

I have spent most of the past 14 years in the west where it gets very dry, and riverbeds dry up frequently.  Dry riverbeds are like empty sap tanks; they are useless.  You may have heard the expression, “Be a river and not a reservoir.” That only works if you have water to flow to where you want it to do good.  Symbolically getting filled up with living water can only be accomplished by having the attitude needed to fill yourself and then pouring yourself out, and the action of doing so to accompany the position. I am not going to spend a great deal of time on this topic since I have written about it many times, but a personal plan and then its execution is the key to being able to help others be successful.  It doesn’t happen without intent and then working the program.  Inspiration and execution produce results.  It’s the other IE quotient. 

“If you are not doing something with your life it doesn’t matter how long you live.”  Do you agree with that? What is your underlying desire in life? Is it self-fulfillment or self- development? In John Maxwell’s fifteenth and final law in the book The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth, The Law of Contribution – Growing Yourself Enables You to Grow Others, he asks three essential questions:

What is your underlying desire in life? Is it self-fulfillment or self- development?
Are your best efforts focused on making you feel good, or making someone else successful?
Are you a “Go-Getter” or a “Go-Giver”?

These questions will help you determine if you are combining attitude with action to exhibit good leadership behavior.  Moreover, if you are doing that, you are two-thirds of the way to being able to add significant value to others. The other third is staying filled up so that you have something to give.  I have written about having mentors, reading, listening and meditating on solid leadership concepts in the past so won’t dwell on it, but note that it is critical to have mentoring to help you continuously grow so that you can help others develop.  People and their influence are significant.  In the last Cornerstone Moment, I referred to a “dream killer” in my life.  When I had that realization, I also made the difficult decision to part ways with that person.  I decided that positive influences be crucial if I was to be a positive influence on others. Positive begets positive and so does negative so choose positive. Consider how “others may own you” through unhealthy relationships, unfair expectations, or undesired attention. Make the needed adjustments to those relationships. You will be glad you did, even if initially tricky to accomplish.

The Law of Contribution also suggests some other good choices and habits including:

Be grateful.  Gratitude is an attitude of your heart.
Put people first, but make sure you are fit and able to do that by being careful about what and who comes first. Remember, you can’t give what you don’t have.
Don’t let stuff own you.  Remember what Ben Franklin said about living usefully verses dying rich.
Don’t let people own you.  Boundaries are difficult to establish (another topic) but necessary.
Define success as sowing, not reaping.  Give more than you take, and you will be rich in rewards.
Keep growing to keep giving.  Being a river requires flowing water.

Realizing whom you want to be in life will help you determine what you need to do to grow into that person.  If you’re going to be someone who helps others become their best, you will continuously work to improve yourself so to be better equipped to accomplish that desire.  When you do that, you will realize that you are not perfect and never will be, but always moving in the direction of getting better at accomplishing that which is essential to you and fulfilling your plan and life’s purpose. That is what Ben Franklin did, and that will be the similarity between you and Ben.