How Full Is Your Bucket?

How Full is Your Bucket by Tom Rath and Donald O. Clifton

This book appealed to me for quite some time.  I love the snippet you can read on Amazon about the grandfather and grandson team, the co-authors.  I finally purchased it and I’m thrilled.  It’s moving and uplifiting, one of he most positive books I’ve ever read.  The metaphor on how you can effect the world by “filling people’s bucket” and thus filling yours, is quite powerful.  I believe in the power that people have to effect each other’s lives.  I previously thought of it as karma, and it is a similar idea.

Positive Impacts. Each encounter you have with another person, however small, can have a positive impact.  Even if it is just smiling at a stranger or remembering somebody’s name, it can have a huge impact on their day by helping to “fill their bucket.”   Your awareness of this power will help put you on the path to maintain your own happiness.

Personal Responsibility. The most important aspect of this metaphor is personal responsibility.  You have impact, you have ability to make and keep your happiness.  Although others will “dip from your bucket,” it is you who can refill it, and the most effective way to do this is to fill other’s buckets.  Perhaps it’s a bit simplistic, as it’s possible for anybody to get into a bad situation, but I do believe there is a lot to back this theory.  Well written, well done!