Do Right #12: Volunteer

I was fortunate to grow up in a household where volunteering was a part of my life. My mother used to bring adults with downs syndrome to sunday school and then church with us every week. As a teenager, there was nothing more embarrassing than the crazy antics that would happen on a regular basis during the otherwise quiet church service, but my mother loved every moment she would see them and soon they became like family to us. My father was active in many volunteer organizations and was always attending a drive or holding an event for a non-profit. I spent many weekends working in the wrapping paper booth at the mall or going to a pancake breakfast somewhere.

It has become so much a part of who I am that I feel a little bit empty when I am not volunteering somewhere. I always recommend to people to volunteer for things you are passionate about, maybe it is children's causes, animals, the homeless, the environment, all of us are passionate about something and volunteering for those causes helps it bring even more meaning to us.

If you don't know where to start, look online, or walk into any non-profit in your neighborhood and see if they need help. Years ago, I walked into a senior living facility near my home and offered to volunteer. I have been there ever since and am now on the Foundation Board of that organization.

It feels great to know that you are helping your community and helping to make the world a better place. So start volunteering, get your family volunteering, the world needs your help!

Do Right #11: Be Grateful

I received some horrible news from a very dear friend yesterday. Her husband was diagnosed with colon cancer and given a life expectancy of just a few weeks. He is just 41 years old and has three young daughters.

I have heard many times before how cancer is a blessing to people because they really begin to appreciate everything they have in life. Having lost my mother to cancer, I believe this is true. It is so easy to get wrapped up in our work, our finances, our troubles, until something really tragic happens and the rest seems so small. We have so much to be grateful for. We are lucky to be able to get up and go to work every day, we could be sitting in a hospital bed day after day. We are lucky to be able to have the strength to get up out of bed and walk around each day. We are lucky to be able so sit in the sun, look out at the blue sky, birds flying and bugs crawling around. All those minute details of life we ignore from day to day.

So for all those people out there who truly are struggling and truly do need a miracle, let's be grateful for their sake. Grateful for what we do have, what we can do and the people we have in our life. Life is a short one, so take advantage of every day.

Be Right #5: Admiration for Ambition

I had the great fortune to work with an amazing young woman yesterday named Madi. I often get asked by students if they can come and work with me for a day. I tell them to call me and very rarely do they follow-up and when given the opportunity they often don't show up. It is annoying! At that age, my friends and I worked for free-ALL THE TIME! We sometimes had two internships at the same time and were paid nothing. That is how you learn- you intern, you volunteer, you ask to work with people and interview people just for experience.

But then there was Madi, she did show up and she did work for free. All day! She worked willingly and offered to do things. She was interested and engaged. On top of it all, she was adorable and fun to be around. I greatly admire Madi's ambition and her enthusiasm. It helped remind me why I love my job and to look at my work with a new fresh perspective that sometimes you forget after doing the same thing for years, even decades! It is great to look at your industry through new eyes and see people who are excited to be a part of it.

It is easy to think kids in school these days feel entitled. You hear it time and time again from companies that have to hire staff just to deal with the entitlement issues of its new hires. Many young people would not dream of working for free, not even for a day. Many don't feel like they have anything to learn about real work experience. Where does this entitlement come from? Are all of us starting to feel entitled to things at our jobs?

But I want to thank Madi. Thank you for being ambitious, thank you for being a great example to everyone else out there. Someone is going to be very lucky to have you working for them someday!

Be Right #4: Pretty Please.

Think about how you feel when someone walks up to you and tells you how pretty you are or how handsome you are. Amazing right? With those few little words, you are beaming and confident. I have a very vivid memory of a woman working at a market in New York and a male customer walked up to her stand. She smiled and looked at him for a moment and flat out said "You are just gorgeous." She wasn't hitting on him or looking for a date. She said it so matter of fact and he thanked her and went on his way. Why is it so hard for us to just tell strangers how pretty or how handsome they are? Are we afraid they will think we are hitting on them? If we all know how great it feels to be told, shouldn't we make the effort to make someone else feel that great too. I endeavor to be like that woman at the market.

Do Right #10: Please use your manners.

Why is it that so often the longer we know someone, the less we feel like we need to have good manners? Think about your first date with your significant other. I imagine you were very polite, pleasing and thank youing all over the place. But time goes by and you find yourself barking out orders to each other and not bothering with how your are talking to each other. I am definitely guilty of this. A please and a thank you go a long way with people and they actually do make people feel good. So this is just a small reminder to remember your manners, not just in public, but with your children, your parents, your siblings and your spouse!

Be Right #3: Share Your Blessing.

The other day I was at the post office mindlessly putting stamps on a huge pile of mailers, when suddenly an old man wearing a tweed newsboy style hat and a red cardigan sweater touched my arm and said something. I didn't hear him, so I asked him to say it again. He said "May you never want as long as you live and may you live as long as you want." Then he tapped the side of my head and said "It's all up here, kid." and walked away with his wife who gave me a sweet smile.

Why this old man chose me to share his blessing I will never know, but I felt pretty lucky that day. I wondered if this was the first time he had done this or if this is something he tells people every day. What really mattered was he was spreading kindness, just a simple blessing to a stranger in a post office. In this day of modern technology, cell phones, e-mails, text messages, it is nice to remember to just talk to people. Give a stranger your blessing and make someone else's day who knows maybe you will be making your own?

Do Right #9: Job Well Done!

These days most of us complain A LOT! We love to complain about customer service, the city officials, the teachers, the president, our meals in restaurants, but what about all the good things that happen to us? What if for every time you complain to someone about a job poorly done, we also commended someone for a job well done? You could talk to the manager of a store about the great customer service you received, tell the chef of a restaurant how much you loved your dinner, thanked your kids teachers for doing such a great job, sent an e-mail to the president about how much you appreciate what he has done for our country. We all want to be noticed for doing well and for making a difference, so we should do the same for others no matter how big or small their job may be. So please find someone to thank this week for a job well done!