Being kind DOESN’T mean being available 24/7.
Don’t confuse generosity with selflessness.
Being an effective giver isn’t about dropping everything every time for every person.
It’s about ensuring that the benefit of helping others outweighs the cost to you.
People who do this well are “self-protective givers”.
They are generous, but they know their limits.
Instead of saying yes to every help request, they look for high-impact, low-cost ways of giving so that they can sustain their generosity—and enjoy it along the way.
In their Harvard Business Review article, Adam Grant and Reb Rebele forgot to mention the most important benefit of being a self-protective giver:
You don’t get physical pain—back pain, neck pain, chest pain, or any kind of pain.
Because putting everyone else’s needs before yours is what causes your pain.
Loving you, Angelos