Hero (38 page)

PETER BURWASH

How important is it for me to make a contribution and do something that matters? It’s my life existence. It’s why I get up in the morning. It’s what allows me to put my head on a pillow at night and feel a tremendous sense of satisfaction.

MICHAEL ACTON SMITH

If you have a lot of money and it’s just sitting in a bank doing nothing, that just feels like a waste of potential. You should put it out there doing things. It feels good to help and support people and to see them fulfill their dreams and lead happier lives.

PETER FOYO

When I sit in my office and I see one of the people on my team and I see their children running around the hallway, there is absolutely nothing more gratifying in that moment. To see that child is happy, healthy, is going to a nice school… knowing there’s a person you’re directly taking care of because of an idea you had one day.

PAUL ORFALEA

I’m not working my ass off so my boys can live in a fancy mansion. They are going to get enough, and that’s it. It’s all going to charity and I am going to give it all away before I die.

G. M. RAO

I was fortunate that the Universe gave me the opportunity to serve society. On my part, I have pledged my entire shareholding to the foundation, which we run.

This final step on the Hero’s Journey is not about simply writing a check to a charity. It’s about finding a way to give your time, energy, and passion in an area that resonates in your heart. It’s about finding particular people who are in a similar disadvantaged situation as you were once in, or finding people who are lacking the means to achieve what you’ve achieved. With all your acquired skills and abilities, you set out to improve other lives in whatever way you can, and provide them with opportunities so they also can follow their dreams.

ANASTASIA SOARE

I went to South Africa when Oprah opened her school there for the girls. I have never seen her so transported, so happy. Her energy was so unbelievable, because she was changing those girls’ lives. Giving back is the most fulfilling experience you can have in life. Giving back is the best.

Successful people know that only giving money is not the ultimate answer to help people, and the ones who’ve completed the journey are very diligent in ensuring that where they give their money provides the means and opportunities for people to change their own life.

JOHN PAUL DEJORIA

Now, my biggest dream is to take an entire country and help it develop and prosper with ecology in mind.

They either choose to give money to provide people with fundamental survival needs, such as clean water, or they use their money to provide people with the means and opportunities they need to live a fulfilling life. It’s like the idea in the old saying, to not give fish alone, but also provide the means and skills so people can fish for themselves. It’s a principle that will guide you in where to give your money, your time, and any other thing you have to give.

PETE CARROLL

There are millions of causes around the world, and I wish I could help them all, but A Better LA really connected to where we were, right there in Los Angeles. It was all around the area we worked. We deal with people one-on-one and try to help them find hope and realize that if they create visions for themselves, they can really command and control the world that they’re in. Fortunately, we have been able to be a factor in saving some families and saving some kids. I feel very proud to be connected to it. I wish I could give more and do more.

Inspiration, encouragement, and hope are also things you can give to other people every day, and those things can often do more for somebody than any amount of money you could give.

MICHAEL ACTON SMITH

One of the things I love at the moment is inspiring school children. They may not even know what entrepreneurship means, but talking to them and inspiring them, some of them will go on to create their own businesses and have rewarding, happy lives down the line.

From the moment The Secret Company received its first dollar of revenue, long before it made a profit, the company tithed a substantial percentage to nonprofit organizations throughout the world whose work empowers human beings and helps them to lead fulfilling lives.

PETER BURWASH

We started a wheelchair tennis program, which is now literally all over the world. We’ve given free tennis lessons to every wheelchair player around the world for thirty-eight years. We’ve been able to bring a lot of joy and happiness to people through this sport.

No matter where you are on your Hero’s Journey, or even if you haven’t yet embarked upon it, you can give now. When someone needs your help, do whatever you can to help him or her. And there’s an important guideline you can follow that will help you know when to help and when not to help: don’t do anything that a person can easily do for himself or herself. If you do, you will not help them, but you will disempower them. There’s a fine line between helping and disempowering somebody, so help them in ways they cannot easily do for themselves. Inspire them, encourage them, help instill belief in them, and provide them with opportunities so that they can pull themselves out of their current situation. When you do this, you empower them, and there’s nothing greater that any one of us can do than to empower another human being with what they need to fulfill their own life.