Be A Good Neighbor

By Daniel Blanchard

My Granddaddy once told me that one hand washes the other! This means when you help someone else out you are really helping yourself out. He used to always say that this is such an easy and simple secret of success. Yet, many people tend to overlook this simple secret of success and continue to think only about their own problems. Sad, isn't it? Maybe we would all be happier if we paid more attention to our Granddaddies and helped other people out.

Today, we live in the middle of a big tossed salad that we once called a melting pot. A century after trying to assimilate everyone, we now realize the value of diversity and the distinct differences between people. The wiser ones among us celebrate and enjoy this feast of a great big tossed salad filled with all sorts of different and interesting neighbors from all around the world. Hey, it's just a fact, today our world is different, our neighbors are different, and we too are different than we used to be, and that's okay.

So, let's not let these small differences between neighbors narrow our vision. When we help others, we are building better relationships, and better skills.

"What skills?" you ask.

Well, how about the ever important social skills? By helping and mingling with others we are building our ability to interact with others, a.k.a. social skills. By the way, many experts, including author Daniel Goleman of, Emotional Intelligence: Why it Can Matter More Than IQ, believes that social skills or social intelligences, something that he also refers to as emotional intelligence or EQ is becoming more important than IQ when it comes to success in the 21st century. So let's be good neighbors and build our own social skills on our road to building a more successful life for ourselves and our neighbors.

Now teens, go learn, lead, and lay the way to a better world for all of us. Remember to always be a good neighbor. And once again, thanks in advance for all that you do, and all that you will do...

Award-winning author, speaker, and educator Dan Blanchard wants you to be a good neighbor because it's the right thing to do, and it will improve your life and your skills. For more great tips from Dan please check out his website: http://www.DanBlanchard.net. Thanks.