#8 Helper vs. Taker
 
The eighth and final one of the mentalities is the giver versus the taker, and this one really is self-explanatory. You do not ever want to be a taker; you want to be a giver. It’s very easy to suffer from scarcity, from lack, and get sucked into that victim mentality, thinking you don’t have enough and deserve something over someone else. Maybe you don’t have enough money, food, or shelter, or maybe someone you trust has taken advantage of you. You’ve all met the taker, or maybe you were a taker at one time in your life, but generosity always wins in the end.

One of the most important things to note with generosity is that you’re not keeping score. Here’s one example: You’re standing in line at the grocery store, and you see that the person in front of you, regardless of gender, age, or social status, is struggling and doesn’t have enough to pay for groceries. I bet just about every one of you reading this can think back on a time when you were in that situation. It’s a horrible feeling, and imagine how you would’ve felt if the stranger behind you, instead of being annoyed, stepped in and said, “Let me help. How much do you need?” I’ve done it, given an extra few dollars to a struggling older woman because she didn’t have enough to buy her groceries. It’s not about being paid back or keeping score, because somewhere down the road, someone else is going to need help. The helper mentality, the generosity of a stranger, is about giving with no expectation of anything in return.

One of the things taught in business is to give your customers and the people who work with you and for you ten times the value they expect when doing business with you, and those people will fall in love with you. Unfortunately, what a lot of people do is the opposite. If you take a look at the local businesses in your own community, or maybe even at your neighbor, a family member, a friend, or someone else you know, you may see that it’s all about cash, about how much they can get from their customers, from anyone, for as little value as they can give. It really is sad when we start to see this happening, and none of us wants to do business with that kind of person. We certainly don’t want to be that kind of person.

Just remember that generosity is a winning mentality. The people who give the most value get the fanatical fans who fall in love with them and their businesses, and this applies to every area of your life. In your career and in your personal life, be the giver instead of the taker, because the most generous person in the room always wins.