My New 4-Step Program for Cultivating Compassion
Rumi, the 13th-century Persian poet and scholar, said that “There is a place where words are born of silence.” The silence of the Weaving Wise/Whys blog over the last few months I know has been deafening. Thank you for staying with the blog and for your patience though the silence. For out of the silence, my new book (The Compassionate Achiever) was born.
The Compassionate Achiever was also born out of my concern that many people seem to be unaware of or overlook the fact that compassion is an important factor in attaining success. When you ask people to list the qualities of a successful person, they usually mention grit, courage, perseverance, and intelligence but rarely do you hear compassion. One problem with such lists is that they are exclusively self-focused and don’t include any concern about others. Do we really want a world filled with self-absorbed achievers?
When you follow a compassionate path in whatever you may be doing in life, the byproduct is success for you and the people around you. Whether you are trying to get a promotion, reach a financial milestone, complete a degree, or help a child learn to read, compassion helps you to accomplish your goal more efficiently and effectively, and it makes the achievement more enduring, fulfilling, and rewarding. Compassion is win-win. It helps you to be successful, and it helps solve problems and create opportunities for others.
My hope is that The Compassionate Achiever helps to not only spread compassion but also alter the common perception of how to attain success. I’ve heard the adage that “it’s lonely at the top” over and over again throughout life but it’s never lonely at the top if you’re a compassionate achiever.
The Compassionate Achiever: How Helping Others Fuels Your Success is now available for pre-order from the following retailers:
AMAZON | BARNES & NOBLE | INDIEBOUND | BOOKSAMILLION | GOOGLE PLAY | iBOOKS
Chris is Professor of Political Science at Western Connecticut State University, a Fulbright Scholar, Director of the Kathwari Honors Program, and founding Director of the Center for Compassion, Creativity & Innovation. He is also the author of "The Compassionate Achiever: How Helping Others Fuels Success" (HarperOne, 2017).
Send this to friend
Be the first to comment.