Unconditional giving is giving something of value to other individuals or a group of people without expecting anything in return or expecting a payback at a later date.

I personally believe that many of us often forget about the possibility of giving something unconditionally just to help another parson that we want to help and care about. We often wait for something in return, because, in our mind that is how things are supposed to be. However, it’s far from reality. If you are giving something and expecting a payback, it’s not unconditional giving, that’s called a loan or intentional giving. So, be sure that you fully understand the difference between the two before acting, as you always want to make sure that perception that you are fiving of yourself to others is the one you intend to give, the one that represents the real and honest you. Be honest with yourself always. If you truly, genuinely want to help someone in need, then please do so, as even the smallest gift of generosity could often help another individual to change his or her life for a better, even if it is only for a short period of time.

Many of us go though some tough times in our lives, and many face difficult times today. But, by being aware of people around us and their unique wants and needs vs only focusing on what is going on in our own personal world, can help us to be that source of hope and positive energy that other people are seeking every day. When someone reaches out to you offering help and/or support when you are going through some challenging times in life is a very powerful feeling, it is uplifting, motivating, and encouraging. It gives us that needed step to try harder, push ourselves to improve, develop, and grow personally and professionally. So, why not help? Why not offer your genuine unconditional help today to those in need, give someone else a reason to smile and create a happy future? You are awesome! Know it and believe it, because, you are!​

How many of you who are reading this enjoy planning? You don’t have to raise your hand, just kindly check off ‘yes’ or ‘no’ in your mind. I hope that most of you have checked off ‘yes,’ because, I certainly did. I love planning every project, every trip, every vacation or road trip must be planned. Why so, why do I so strongly believe that planning is something everyone must do before taking on an important action or project? The answer here is surprisingly a very simple one – planning helps us to make what initially seemed as a complex task into a very simple one.

Let’s take vacation planning as an example. How many of you plan your vacations? Ok, make another note in your mind. I plan my family’s vacations to the smallest detail, from transportation to food, lodging, entertainment, finances, etc. You may be thinking why go to the extreme? Why not just go and see what happens? Because, peace of mind and mine and and my family members’ happiness is very important to me. The last thing that I want is to find myself trying to do is figure out the logistics during the vacation, which often causes frustration, confusion, unhappiness for everyone involved in the absence of a clear plan.

Take for example a family trip to a Disney World in Orlando, Florida. Many people would find it a very complex and often anxious experience, especially when you are traveling with little kids. I have personally observed several families with kids having a very difficult time, being upset, disappointed, and frustrated while at Disney World. Why? I would say that the biggest reason would have to be the lack of planning before the trip. However, when you plan everything out well in advance, know where you are going, the attractions you want to see, rides you want to ride, reserve fast passes to the rides and shows that you absolutely must see and experience, purchase meals well in advance, securing transportation and lodging, then the entire Disney experience will be very enjoyable for the entire family. So, that is why I view planning as a very important key to a success and happiness for all involved.

By the way, planning does not only apply to vacations, it applies to virtually all aspects of our personal and professional lives. When you are assigned a large project at work, the very first step that one should take is to break down this project into smaller sub projects, and then create a plan of action – how will you tackle each sub project along the entire timeline to ensure that complete product is delivered before the deadline, while meeting and often exceeding quality controls and expectations set by the business. Remove planning out of the equation and you are stuck with big unknown, with a challenge that you do not know where to begin in handling, or if you can even complete it before the requested due date. This creates unnecessary stress and pressure placed on our shoulders. So, why not planned it out and tackle the task or project in smaller, much more manageable chunks?

I would challenge you to look at each task, project, or event as a planner. Have a plan clearly outlined listing step-by-step action items to be completed over time without preestablished guidelines or requirements should they be present in your specific situation. Write down you detailed plan on a paper, and if you choose not to user paper and pen, then have it typed up on a pc/tablet/phone, where you can easily access it at any time. Remember, if you are working on a project for your employer and you happened to run into an obstacle or a roadblock along your project journey, be sure to raise your concerns to the appropriate individual(s) proactively, especially if/when you are at risk of missing a deadline. Do not wait until the very end, as it may be a very difficult and often impossible to address any of the concerns near or at the ‘finish line.’

So, if you have previously viewed planning as a non-important or unnecessary task, hopefully you now see how important the process of planning is in all aspects of our lives and will begin viewing planning as necessity and part of everything you do in your personal and professional lives.​

​ hope you enjoyed reading this module as much as I enjoyed writing it, and hope that you found it to be very useful for you or someone else that you may know. Please feel free to share this post if you know someone who may benefit from reading it same way you did

Most of us strive for bigger, better, and more luxurious or prestigious things throughout the course of our life, and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. There’s nothing wrong with wanting the best for yourself, your family and your friends. For example, one would much rather stay in luxurious 5-star hotel vs. a 2-star one, because, he or she would like to have access to a multitude of amenities that may be available in a 5-star hotel, better location, closer to all entertainment, restaurants, etc. However, could we have as much fun with your family staying in a 2-star hotel? Absolutely. It’s all how we look at each experience and our priorities and values. When the most important thing to us is being with people that we love and care about, and going on various adventures together, then it really does not matter whether we stay in a luxury hotel, motel, or somewhere else. Why? Because, our attention is fully absorbed by our significant other and/or our child(ren). We can absolutely make the best travel or vacation experience with those that we love and care bout if our priorities are aligned with our values.

It does not matter where we go with my family on vacation, or where we end up staying, we always make the best out of each and every situation no matter what. Sometimes, when we go to a big event and when all hotels are sold out around the venue, we end up staying few nights in a nearby motel, and guess what, we always have a wonderful experience together regardless where we are, because, our top priority is to have a great time together, so everything else comes second.

I often observe families have a very challenging time vacationing, because, either their plane was few minutes delayed, or Uber car was not as big as they were hoping for, or room at the hotel was on a lower level than expected, and so on. What’s often observed in such situations is unhappy travelers, frustrated parents, disappointed children. But why? Why ruin your days, week or month when frustration can be avoided by simply shifting our focus on what’s most important to us – people that we love and care about and doing everything that we can to make them happy.
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Now, I completely understand that we all have our own unique thoughts, opinions, and priorities in life. So, my goal with this article was to simply highlight one point that happiness can be found wherever we may be in life as long as we are surrounded by those that we love and care about, and remember that even small happy moments in life can make a big memorable difference

How many of you thought about giving up on your goals and dreams in life, or your lifetime passion and/or hobby, just because you did not see any progress whether you were hoping to monetize your hobby or attract people to support your vision and sharing your passion with them? I know I have. But then I reminded myself why following through on my goals and passion is important and what it means to me and my family. It’s easy to give up, and that is exactly what takes place whenever someone loses patience, gets discouraged due to lack of results or progress, loses motivation. But why? If it’s our lifetime passion, whatever it may be for you, that we are pursuing, it is something that we deeply care about, there should be nothing that could stop us from following through on our goals, dreams, and live our life with unbreakable determination of reaching that what we set to accomplish. Isn’t that is what we love to do? Isn’t that is what we care about? I would assume that the answer here is a strong “Yes.’ So, let’s not forget that regardless how slow the progress may be, how many challenges or problems we may have to face along the way, regardless what other people are telling us of what we can or cannot do, trying to discourage us, we know what we want to accomplish in our life, we know the lifestyle we want to create for ourselves and for those that we love and care about. So, let’s get after it. At the end of the day our passion, our hobby, is what we have created in our mind and we know how it would make us feel once we accomplish it. We must believe in ourselves, motivate ourselves, and never give up on our passion and our dreams.

Even if you are far from being great at what you love to do, for example, being a writer or blogger, keep working on it, keep honing your skill, keep learning, because, every day we get more experienced and more knowledgeable. So, keep learning and exploring something new daily, and eventually everything will align just like you had envisioned it in its ideal state.​