People always want more from their lives. And they should rightly strive after their goals and dreams.

It’s the human need to excel.

But they’re always trying to take something. They want success, fame, money, friends, love… and they want to keep taking more and more out of life.

But you won’t be truly happy if you only take things.

You have to give things.

To make a point about this in my personal life, I’ve decided to give, on my birthday, a gift to someone instead of receiving or expecting a gift. I want to give it to a person who has done something to help someone else.

I want this to be the start of giving back and appreciating others for the work they do. I already give a lot of value away on this blog for free, but I also want to give back to others who make an effort to make a difference in other people’s lives.

I also want to give back in the area of professional training. I want to help people recognize that they can do and become much more than what they believe, and much more than what they’ve been told they can do… and I want them to realize that it’s possible.

1. Gratitude

As much as I write about pushing yourself to the limit and working hard to realize your goals, I also believe that one should take a step back and see the blessings in life.

No person has ever become successful all by him/herself. There is always an army of people behind that person who’ve helped him or her push through and overcome the odds. They were there during the lows and they were also there during the highs.

Even if you’ve worked at your goal all by yourself, someone at some point said they’re proud of you. Someone at some point said “you’re doing great.” Someone at some point said “you deserve the best.”

I truly believe that there is a person out there or a group of people out there that absolutely believe in you. And some of these people believed in you well before you started believing in yourself.

You may have lost touch with these people. But I know you haven’t forgotten about them. So look for them and say “thank you.” In fact, write them an email and tell them how this one thing they did for you changed your life. They’ll appreciate the read more than anything else.

2. Giving

I don’t believe in giving people material things.

I believe there are other means by which we can help others stand up for themselves and become able to take care of themselves.

That’s why I don’t think you can help a homeless person by giving him $5 or even $100. That person needs a set of skills to help him or her find a job and stop being homeless. And yes, I understand that some of the homeless people out there are alcoholics and drug addicts and I understand that it’s hard for them to commit to going to a class or cultivate a useful set of skills, but I also believe not doing anything about it is wrong.

There are a lot than we can do to help others by giving them a small opportunity. Why not give an hour of your time — once a week — to support a cause that matters to you. You will meet others who are equally passionate about these things and you will probably make better friendships than the friends who care about the latest trends, cars, dresses, shirts, or gadgets.

No one on their deathbed regrets not having owned an iPad. But a lot of people regret not having made an impact…when they could.

3. Sharing

Again, you don’t have to share material things with others to help them out. You’re thinking too hard about it.

Start with simple things. Start with sharing a story of how you were able to find power inside yourself when things outside of you weren’t going right. What did you do to get through it? What activities have helped you move on after a breakup? What did you do when your business fell apart? We all have stories that we can share with others and help them out.

Don’t underestimate the power of stories. Stories change people’s lives so share them and make a difference.

4. Start a Blog

You don’t only have to help people who are absolutely struggling. You can help others around you who can benefit from your advice and life experience.

One of the best ways to do so is to start a blog and share with others what you’ve learned. This is an excellent tool to reach others and to provide value that they can have access to whenever they want. That’s what prompted me to start this blog in the first place.

I wanted to find a way to help people learn from my experience without having to be in direct contact with me. And this is the best way to do so.

I, of course, would love the opportunity to interact with those that find my work valuable, but I am also happy when I receive an email from them saying they appreciate my work. It really means a lot to me and helps me better understand how I can better able reach others and connect with them and write about topics that they care about.

And the best part: it’s really easy to start a blog these days. And it costs less than $3 a month to host your website. There are also a ton of free templates (themes) out there that you can use for your blog…and you can set things up and get started pretty much right away. It won’t take you any more than 30 minutes to set everything up. In fact, you can have your site hosted in less than 5 minutes. It’s really that easy.

Think about this option and consider a blog if you’re serious about making an impact.