When you give people stuff, they fell inclined to return the favor. It is one of the simplest psychological concepts. You will see it in every age, race, gender, and person on this earth. Everyone must give and receive.

Now you can apply this to business and give people things of value, causing them to feel indebted to you to return the favor ($$$).

This is a great reminder Ryan!

I think many times our egos and pride step in to block us from receiving some of the greatest gifts in life.

And as entrepreneurs sometimes we think we need to create everything and make everything happen for ourselves. And we think we can't let someone else do something for us....

But sometimes that is just pride.

Love it Ryan!

Thanks Jay and Caleb!

RB

There was a time in my life when I thought I was invincible, and wanted to do everything myself (truth: I still have remnants of it). But life is always seeking equilibrium,so when we give, we will receive.The best strategy is to forget this law -- so that we do not give because we want to receive. To just accept it as one of life's facts and a reflection of the wisdom of the creator.

I try to be grateful for everything now. There are no ''accidents''. And has pointed out, it sets off a chain, a cycle...that makes it all fun.

Let's rejoice when we receive.

Let's give with all our hearts.

I think part of the problem is our personal history. Once people got off of the farms and into an urbanized society, the rules tended to change, and sometimes to an extreme. Similarly, some people that lived through the great depression and other bad financial times took on an independence that shaped how they taught their children.

Back more than a few years, as a young man, I had difficulty in receiving. There was always some barrier. Part of the problem was my upbringing. "It is better to give than receive" was drummed into us. Being relatively poor, the act of receiving something from another became an act of charity, and it was a "bad thing" to receive charity. Good to give it, but not receive. Being proud has it's drawbacks when carried to an extreme. If one did accept something, they had to repay the kindness back manyfold, and not having the financial situation to do so created great guilt, to the point of refusing any or all help. We paid for everything we got. The feeling was (unfortunately) carried into adulthood.

It took many years to break the habit, and actually recieve something with gratitude, and not see it as something demeaning. In early adulthood, the automatic response to an offer of any item or help was "no thanks, I'm good" or something to that effect. If somehow the offered gift was left behind, guilt demanded reciprocity. This extended beyond physical things. Even a complement was difficult to receive without angst. Yes, this is a manifestation of ego, though you wouldn't have been able to tell me that, way back then. Streangely, it wasn't a bad thing to ask for help, to be granted a "loan" of something, because it was a planned act... Ego poking up there again.

Since then, I've learned that a gift is not necessarily charity, and that receiving a charitable act isn't bad anyway. We all need some sort of help now and then. The trick is breaking a habit that was so ingrained as to be almost a fundamental part of being. Part of my education in this matter was learning to give, and to appreciate the act of giving witout any expectation of a return, now, later or ever. However, once the attitude changed, I found that things given brought other positive results, and from avenues never imagined.

To this day, it is sometimes still difficult to receive something from someone without feeling obligated to respond in kind (back to them), but I'm continually improving. I no longer refuse to receive, and have found that a willingness to receive when people actively give also has opened up the other blessings I have received in my life. Probably one of the hardest things to see was that refusing to receivie from one path tended to block all other kinds.

I too took a long time to learn to receive gracefully. I used to refuse any gifts that were offered, unless birthday or Christmas presents from family. I was also stuck in a dead end situation, and nothing I did seemed to help.

When I finally learned to gratefully receive anyting given to me, and not worry about whether I could reciprocate or not, other things turned positive in my life. It was if my refusing to recieve even the simple gifts from those around me blocked the universe from giving me the things I was asking for. Though I sometimes wonder if the two are really that closely linked, I'm not going to knock it either.

Yes, you need to learn to receive, because you cannot receive what you ask for if you aren't willing to receive other things along the way as well.