Anything meaningful was never build alone

Millions of people are sharing ideas with beloved ones but one in a million is doing something meaningful for them. I always wanted to share good ideas with people I love, because I was taught that sharing is caring. Until I realized that just sharing doesn’t help them or make a difference.

Let’s be honest, this is the lesson that most of us got wrong.

Sharing is not caring.

We are not doing any favor to anyone by sharing a picture of an interesting fish for instance. And we are not doing anything by feeding someone with the fish either. Unless we help each other to catch a fish we are not caring for each other. Unless we do something about it, just sharing is pointless.

We are all sailing in this ocean called the internet, we see lots of fish, we read or hear about brilliant ideas, we are amused and the next thing we do is share it on our social media. A few hours later we are getting millions of likes or comments. We are happy, our viewers are happy, everybody is happy. And a few minutes later we are hungry again.

We are sharing the idea one after another, but the truth is that we are not doing anything meaningful. We are only passing the ball to each other, but we are not scoring a goal.

Social media is not about about caring not sharing

Social media feeds are changing very fast. Something worth talking about right now is already old and not worth discussing anymore in the next minute. “Thanks for sharing” is all we get most of the time. Yes, we get lots of instant attention when we share a good idea, we are happy when someone benefits from that idea and it’s entertaining to see how people react to it. But do we realize that all this “happiness” is very short and it’s temporary? Do we realize that we didn’t score any goal, we just passed the ball to each other?

I think most of you will agree that what we are getting by sharing on social media is a false feeling of happiness and it’s temporary, whereas true and long-lasting happiness is always created when we do something about it. Let’s think about it for a moment. Why do you still remember the dinner you had with your significant other, years ago, but you fail to remember what you had for lunch yesterday? Why is it that you clearly remember something you did in your childhood, but you struggle to recall what you were doing last week?

The reason for that according to science is that you did something uncommon that day, something impactful, something special. That is the moment when you scored a goal. This is the reason why you are still able to explain in detail the place, the table, the dress, and the meal you had with your significant other. On the other hand, yesterday’s lunch was just a regular lunch. Nothing special about it. This is why you don’t remember.

You cannot score a goal alone

Rather than sharing personal goals or achievements, use social media to connect with people and build something meaningful that will last forever. If you want to build something meaningful don’t work alone, don’t think alone. You cannot score a goal alone.

Some psychologists say that sharing your goals with others will help you to stay motivated and accountable. But in my life, I have met lots of people who are accountable and fully motivated but didn’t make much progress toward their goals. The reason I think is because people by nature are self-concentrated, the ego that people have is what is holding them down. Some people are shy, and some hesitate to reach out for help.

The only successful people I met in my life were people who knew how to ask for help. And I was the happiest person in the world when I helped someone. Isn’t it interesting to know that people like to help but they hesitate to ask for help?

How can you help someone? Today!

To help someone or to do something impactful, you don’t have to do some big overarching things like starting or joining a nonprofit organization. You don’t have to have all the answers. Because you won’t have all the answers when you start. But what’s beautiful about that is that you don’t need to have all the answers to get started. Start with the most obvious thing to do. Start with the simplest thing you can do.

Years later I still remember a phrase by Tiffani Ashley Bell where she says: “When you start doing something that is not perfect, and it’s not finished, people will see what you are doing, and they will want to join you. People see you walking the walk and you will understand that compassion is contagious. They will want to get together with you to make what you are doing bigger, more impactful, more meaningful.”

I don’t know who my readers are, I don’t know you for instance, but what I know for sure is that the first thing I can do for you is to create good content as a content creator. Or maybe I can help you out with my other digital literacy skills. I can buy you some time by taking over and completing a task on your project. If I see you are trying to do something meaningful, I can volunteer.

When you stop and think for a moment you will discover millions of small tasks you can do for the community. We can do more than just hit the like or share button. Because just sharing is not caring.

Let’s connect now, and let’s work together!

Originally published on Eksperienca.com