Givers Gain

Several years ago when I was a member of the networking group, BNI, I learned many valuable lessons. The predominant one was, "Givers Gain". There were numerous tasks that we had to perform at these early Thursday morning meetings: regular attendance, setting up "one on one" time with fellow members, performing one minute commercials, and giving referrals to people within our group of any individual requiring their particular goods or services. The motto "Givers Gain" was a good one - giving without expecting to receive anything in return. But receive we did! It generally led to a mutual trust and loyalty and many wonderful, long lasting business relationships were formed because of the generosity of these well screened referrals.

A few weeks back as I meandered through the aisles of Barnes and Noble I came across a book that spoke to me. As the parent of an active, scholastically hard working teenager, this book jacket begged me to scoop it up and take it home - after paying for it, of course!

My son, who is kept busy with many hours of school work daily, resisted reading it. There wasn't enough time in the week, let alone day, to sit down and read a book outside of his school work's curriculum. So I decided that I would start to read it. Eventually, as I raved about the first two chapters, he found a little extra time and picked it up.

At this point we're both reading it and enjoying the incredibly simple profundity of each chapter. The author, Sean Covey (son of Stephen R. Covey) has written a jewel of a book that inspires as it excites you to read more. 'The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens' needs to be read by all. Sean has miraculously written a "can't put down" book that encourages, educates, inspires and motivates - all without being pushy or preachy. It is the kind of book that is ageless in its message and calls for rereading on a regular basis.

The day that I walked through Barnes and Noble had been an especially trying day. I had wanted to do something special for my son, and thought that this book would be a wonderful gift for him. Little did I realize that it would end up being an inspirational gift for me as well.