In almost every interaction, you get a choice: will you be helpful or helpless?
Your boss wants to take over the project you’ve been working on for months.
Your spouse wants to do yard work the weekend you had imagined just taking it easy in your unicorn floaty with an ice-cold tallboy in hand.
Your prospective client is signaling they don’t have the budget for your services or are moving in a different direction.
Helpful or helpless?
Helpless
You decide to complain to everyone in the company about how your boss stole the glory from you.
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You whine all day while doing the yard work with your spouse, or worse, you decide to leave them to do the work on their own while you unicorn float.
You end the call quickly because why waste your time with a prospective client who won’t even become a client, right?
Helpful
You tell your boss, “I have a lot of work tied up in this project, and I’m disappointed to not have the lead, but how can I help bring it home with you?”
You take a deep breath (serenity now), get on your work pants, boots, and gloves, and say, “honey, how can I help?”
You figure out how you can still help your potential client grow their business, make their next move, or find a better-suited competitor for their needs.
When you decide to be helpful, more help comes your way too – but that is not why you do it. You do it because it is the right thing to do – because relationships matter more than work, or comfort, or pride. It just happens to be a tremendous bonus that others notice and reward you when you choose to be helpful.
So which will you choose: helpful or helpless?
