You scratch my back, and I’ll scratch yours, right?!
Well…. That’s not always the case. There are a ton of scenarios in business where some people are quite good at giving and some people are quite good at taking. And when you constantly find yourself on the giving end, you may start asking yourself some questions. Especially if you realize that no one else is as generous as you are. At some point, you’ll start to wonder: “Am I a pushover?!”
While you shouldn’t completely eradicate generosity and goodwill from your life, there are ways you can balance being generous without being a pushover.
HAVE SOME BOUNDARIES
For starters, you need to have some boundaries. You need to know what you are willing to do and how much you are willing to do out of the goodness of your own heart. You need to be capable of determining where the line is drawn in the sand, and when you will start saying that little two-letter word a lot of us are afraid of saying: No. Or else, you’ll quickly find yourself having to do work and following up on favors that you don’t really want to be doing.
MAKE SURE YOU’RE IN A GENEROSITY-RICH ENVIRONMENT
You want to ensure you’re in an environment where people are driven to give as much as they are hungry to take. And this piece of advice applies to networking events, masterminds, conferences, the office, or your circle of friends. Join a community where people can reciprocate what you offer to them at the same level, if not better. In other words, you want to make sure you’re in a room where the value that is being distributed around and that is being given out is as good (if not better) than what you’re generously giving as well.
GIVE PEOPLE A TASTE OF THEIR OWN MEDICINE
The easiest way to do this is to respond to the behavior that takers have with a matching behavior. In other words, if someone constantly takes from you, don’t keep giving. At some point, you have to stop. But if someone constantly asks for favors and consistently reciprocates whenever you need it, there’s no reason to not keep going! That’s how a lot of successful entrepreneurs make it in business.
By following these three tips, we promise you that the chances of you being pushed around and constantly being squeezed for everything you have to give are reduced immensely. Don’t let looking like a pushover keep you from being generous. While it’s best to be able to scratch someone’s back that could later scratch yours, you never know how far a good deed can go and when the good karma will hit you back.