Take 10 seconds today to fill up your karmic bank account. (photo: woodleywonderworks)
Part 1 – The Favor and Bribe
This two-part post is interrelated, so I recommend you read both sections. If you take 10 seconds to do the first part, it should — based on the research — make you a happier person.
The first part is simple. I want to give ten of you $150. More on this a little later…
There are less than 7 hours left to help 100,000 public school students get $1.5 million dollars in much-needed funding for their educations. A single click here is all I ask of you, and I sweeten the pot with a bribe below…
First, from the woman who convinced me to put up this post:
Where you grow up shouldn’t determine the quality of the education you receive. To help level the playing field, I propose giving 100,000 children in low-income communities the books, technology, and other materials that they need for a proper education.
The non-profit Donorschoose (who appear on the dedication page of 4HWW) only need 3,000-4,000 more votes to reach first place and receive $1.5 million dollars from American Express. As few as 500 more votes could lock them in for $500,000 (that means each vote is worth $1,000).
Earn some serious good karma and use this as your moment of Zen today.
You can make a difference in 100,000 lives with the click of a button. Please take these three simple steps to move from spectator to player in creating the world you want:
1. Vote here. If you don’t have an American Express Card, please forward this post to a friend and ask them to vote on your behalf.
2. Update your Facebook status, blog, twitter, e-mail or IM your friends either of these URLs:
http://www.membersproject.com/project/view/V8EWJV
http://snipurl.com/3zbdi (Same URL shortened)
A short message like this should do the trick:
“One click here today can give 100,000 students $1.5 million for education. No joke and no exaggeration. Take a second and earn some karma!”
The Bribe
Just do the following no later than midnight EST tonight:
1) Leave a comment on this post and tell me how you spread the word on the Donorschoose voting.
For bonus points:
2) Describe in the same comment which teacher, class, or school project had the biggest impact on your life and why.
Prize 1: Next Monday, I and several judges will pick the the 10 best comment give each person a $150 gift certificate to Donorschoose. The staff at Donorschoose can pick projects for you, if you’d like, and you’ll receive handwritten thank-you notes and photographs from every classroom you help. How cool is that?!
Prize 2: I will also invite the 10 winners to a private 30-60-minute call where you can ask me anything in the world that you like.
If you need some more solid reasons…
So why DonorsChoose?
Many non-profits sound great on paper and then fail in execution.
I’ve seen inside DonorsChoose, read their financials, and known the CEO for 15 years. They are streamlined like a Silicon Valley start-up, have helped more than 600,000 students with almost no resources, and they have superstars guiding them, including the Chairman and CEO of Sony Pictures, the founder of NetFlix, the co-founder of Yahoo, and Bill Bradley, among many others. Their corporate partners include Crate and Barrel and Yahoo. The Omidyar Foundation helped finance them. It goes on and on.
Why education?
Education is, after much research, what I believe has the greatest long-term potential to solve all of our problems: potable water, AIDS, malaria, racial discrimination, unfair trade agreements for developing countries, and all of the rest. DonorsChoose isn’t just about colored pencils — they’ve already directly helped in preventing teen pregnancies and getting future leaders out of low-income housing and on the path to college.
Adding people without adding the tools — education and confidence — can create more problems than it solves. Increased disease, famine, and war are just three examples. The US, for example, has no problem multiplying its population; it’s training those people to get along and build a better future that’s the challenge.
With $1.5 million, DonorsChoose can change the future of US education. I’ve seen them execute.
I don’t expect them to get everyone’s vote, but they get mine. Get involved and vote, whichever direction you go!
To reiterate:
Earn some serious good karma and use this as your moment of Zen today.
You can make a difference in tens of thousands of lives with the click of a button. Please take these three simple steps to move from spectator to player in creating the world you want:
1. Vote here. If you don’t have an American Express Card, please forward this post to a friend and ask them to vote on your behalf.
2. Update your Facebook status, blog, twitter, e-mail or IM your friends either of these URL:
http://www.membersproject.com/project/view/V8EWJV
http://snipurl.com/3zbdi (Same URL shortened)
A short message like this should do the trick:
“One click here today can give 100,000 students $1.5 million for education. No joke and no exaggeration. Take a second and earn some karma!”
Let us bring power to the people, but let us also recognize that power begins with one simple tool: education.
Arm the masses. Click here.
Part 2 – The Latest Happiness Research – How to Smile During an Economic Crash
Psychologist Martin Seligman came at “happiness” (a problematic term that nonetheless fascinates me) from an unusual source: he’d previously studied depression and learned helplessness.
I came across some of his latest findings — all scientifically verified — in the most recent issue of the Princeton Alumni Weekly:
There are three levels to happiness: pleasure, the delight you get from chocolate, fast cards, and sex; engagement, the feeling of “flow” you get when you’re doing something you’re good at; and meaning, the fulfillment you get from being engaged in an effort greater than yourself. Pleasure is ephemeral and contributes very little to real happiness… but meaningful engagement brings lasting contentment.
For classmates who are headed towards retirement, Seligman offers the following tip: “Material objects have almost no role in positive emotion. As you organize your retirement, spend it on meaningful engagement. Don’t squander your savings on boats and houses.”
It’s pretty simple, actually. Figure out what you’re good at. And then apply your strengths to a greater purpose. And don’t forget to cultivate optimism along the way.
More coming on investment soon…