The document discusses the benefits of volunteering and helping others for both personal health and well-being. Several studies are cited that show volunteering is connected to lower rates of depression, higher well-being, reduced mortality risk, and longer life. Volunteering can also improve brain health, engagement, productivity, mood, stress levels, and sense of purpose. The document encourages becoming a better person through small acts like listening, speaking kindly, making eye contact, smiling, apologizing sincerely, and helping others achieve their dreams.

1. By Bill Barlow
@LifeIsAPitch

2. 2 Reasons:
 For Yourself
 For Others
Many studies show that your health is improved
when you help others. A 2013 study by the
University of Exeter Medical School found that
volunteering was connected to lower rates of
depression, high reports of well-being, and a
significant reduction in mortality risk. And a 2005
Stanford study found that those who volunteer live
longer than those who don't. But helping others
means that you may need to be a better person.

3. If you need selfish reasons to for becoming a better
person consider these. The effects of giving back are
especially dramatic:
 A 2011 Johns Hopkins study found that volunteering
seniors were more likely to engage in brain-building
activities, which lowers the risk of Alzheimer's
disease.
 A 2013 study by United Health Group found that
employee volunteer programs increased engagement
and productivity. The study showed that volunteers
were healthier and more productive in
business, more creative and collaborative and less
prone to burnout and overwork.

4. Studies also showed that:
 Over 75 percent of the employees who had volunteered
said they felt healthier.
 Over 90 percent said their volunteering had put them in a
better mood.
 Over 75 percent reported experiencing less stress.
 Ninety-six percent said that volunteering enriched their
sense of purpose in life (which in turn has been found to
strengthen our immune function).
 Employees who volunteered also reported improved time-
management skills and enhanced ability to connect with
peers.

5. If you want to reap the health benefit
or just actually be a better person I
created 15 easy steps that can help
you.
Individually these may seem like
common sense but if done together
they will evoke change in you and
those around you.

6. “What is necessary
to change a person
is to change his
awareness of
himself”
Abraham Maslow

7.  Listen to yourself and pay attention to the
interaction that you have with others.
 If you pay attention you may start to notice
that at some point in your interactions things
seem to go wrong.
 Try to determine what happens and how you
can change that.
 Being aware of this can help you change it.

8. “Holding on to anger
is like grasping a hot
coal with the intent
of throwing it at
someone else; you
are the one who
gets burned.”

9.  Being angry or getting angry easily is the
number one reason why you may be having a
difficult time in being a better person.
 Once you can become aware of this you can
start to change it.
 Learn to let go of anger, envy and hatred.
 Our frustration should not be taken out on
others.

10. „Kindness is the
language which the
deaf can hear and
the blind can see.”
Mark Twain

11.  Something as simple as speaking in a kind
way can improve your relationships.
 Kindness promotes kindness.
 Over simplified; speak kind to others and
they will speak kind to you.

12. „I like to listen. I
have learned a great
deal from listening
carefully. Most
people never
listen.”
Ernest Hemmingway

13.  Listening is learning.
 When you listen to others they tend to
gravitate toward your kindness.
 When you like to listen you will see a
remarkable change in the relationships you
have with other.
 The change goes far beyond listening itself.

14. “A smile is a curve
that sets everything
straight”
Phyllis Diller
“To truly laugh you
must be able to take
your pain and play
with it”
Charlie Chaplin

15.  Smiles are as contagious as laughter.
 People are attracted to smiles and laughter
because it spreads happiness.
 Even in difficult times thoughtful smiles and
tasteful laughter can bring someone away
from depressing thoughts.
 Be warned however, it will have the same
effect on you.

16. “There is still a part
of me that wants to
hold my head up and
make eye contact”
Cameron Diaz

17.  Positive and friendly people make eye
contact.
 When you speak to someone, look at them.
 When you look at them smile.
 This is something so simple yet so elusive
these days.

18. “Once you replace
negative thoughts
with positive ones,
you will start having
positive results”
Willie Nelson

19.  Positive thoughts bring positive action.
 To accomplish this, think positive thoughts in
your mind.
 Try to find the positive side of every situation.
 Where possible articulate this to
someone, (examples) “the good news is…”, “look
on the bright side…”, “Well at least they
didn‟t…that would have been worse”.
 Incorporating positive speech is the byproduct of
positive thoughts.
 Positive outcomes are the byproduct of positive
speech.

20. “Every Blessing
ignored become a
curse”
Paulo Coelho
“Life has no blessing
like a prudent
friend”
Euripides

21.  Everything you do is either a blessing or a curse.
 You can change your life and the lives of those around you
very quickly.
 Try to determine if you are saying or doing something
positive or creating comments or actions that are
negative.
 All of your negatives are curses. All of your positives are
blessings.
 When you bring blessings, you are either helping someone,
encouraging some or listening to someone.
 When you bring a curse you are criticizing or saying
negative things, refusing to help or refusing to listen.
 You can be a dream maker or a dream breaker for someone
solely by your words and actions to others.

22. „Enthusiasm is the
mother of effort,
and without it
nothing great was
ever achieved.”
Ralph Waldo
Emerson

23.  It is one thing to think positive and another
to act positive.
 Being enthusiastic brings a second level of
positive energy to a situation.
 Doing positive, avoiding negative but not
being enthusiastic is being neutral.

24. “I've learned that
people will forget
what you said,
people will forget
what you did, but
people will never
forget how you
made them feel.”
Maya Angelou

25.  Give someone a completely unsolicited
compliment.
 Do something nice for someone else – for no
reason.
 Even if the person is a stranger say
something nice that you don‟t have to say.
 You will see the immediate effects of
kindness take over.

26. More people should
apologize, and more
people should
accept apologies
when sincerely
made.
Greg Lemond

27.  Being a better person is not just about what we
do for others it is what we do together with
others.
 It is important to understand that sometime we
are at fault, we were the cause or we started an
issue.
 Be aware of this, let go of the anger associated
with this, smile and sincerely apologize while
telling someone what they mean to you.
 This can be powerful as it releases negative
energy within you that hill otherwise block you
from achieving your goals.

28. “Any fool can
criticize, condemn
and complain - and
most fools do.”
Benjamin Franklin

29.  When things are not going your way how do you
sound to others?
 How do you like listening to others complain?
 There is a way to be constructive, positive and
accurate when the situation warrants.
 In most cases you will find that your complaints
have no purpose other than being a display of
your raw emotions.
 Consequently, making excuses is often much
the same thing.
 Think about what you are complaining about,
why you are complaining and how it sounds to
others. This will dramatically impact what you
say.

30. “I can't go back to
yesterday - because
I was a different
person then.”
Lewis Carol

31.  This is going beyond complaining less and
not making excuses.
 This exercise really stretches you to do
things you may not want to do and helps you
to be a better person.
 Do something someone asks you to do and
you will fell better when you are finished.

32. “Help others
achieve their
dreams and you will
achieve yours.”
Les Brown

33.  Realize that the foundation to being a better
person is to help those around you.
 When others feel better as a result of your
help you feel better as well.
 Studies have shown that this people who help
others have less stress, feel healthier and are
in better moods than those who don‟t help
others.

34. “No one saves us but
ourselves. We
ourselves must walk
the path.”
Buddha
“Man only likes to
count his
troubles, but he does
not count his joys”
Fyodor Dostoevsky

35.  If a situation compromises your values it will eat
away at you.
 You will be negatively affected by these
situations.
 First try to be positive and change the situation
by telling others how you feel. Tell them why
you are not comfortable and what is bothering
you.
 Listen to their response. If you realize that the
situation will not change then you need to walk
away.
 No one has the power to change every negative
situation, once you determine that you can‟t
change it, it is ok to remove yourself. You will
feel better for doing so.

36. Why Not?
If you don’t want to do it for
someone else, do it for yourself.

37. By Bill Barlow
@LifeIsAPitch