How full is YOUR bucket??

I had gone to a workshop put on by Leaders Striving for Success at Baldwin-Wallace College and the title of the workshop was, "How full is your bucket?" I was very intrigued and decided to see what it was all about. We started the workshop by forming a circle and sharing our names and what we would prefer to be called. We were then asked ten questions that pertained to our interests and personalities. We were given a sheet of paper with a bucket on it that said, "In some cases, a single encounter can change your life forever." On the sheet of paper we wrote down our answers to the ten questions, and I forgot what the questions were because I am a visual learner and the questions were read aloud. Sorry about my learning style! Anyway, on my sheet of paper I wrote down that I love to ski, I like receiving good news, as well as giving good news, I love talking to my parents and siblings, I enjoy receiving meaningful letters in the mail (and anything in the mail!), I enjoy roommate time, waka waka radio on Pandora, spending time with my sorority sisters, and going to my spiritual friendship class. The point of this exercise was to learn about other people's interests and understanding that compliments may help make someones day. I learned a lot about the other people who participated in the workshop and it was really worth going to.

The 5 Steps of Bucket-Filling are:

1) Prevent Bucket Dipping--Start a habit by asking yourself if you are adding to or taking from the person's bucket in each interaction. By catching yourself before uttering a negative comment-and in some cases, making a positive one instead-you start making yourself and others around you feel better.

2) Shine a Light on what is Right-this means to focus on what is a right, positive emotion create "chains of interpersonal events." Never under-estimate the long-term influence of filling other's buckets.

3) Make Best Friends- Look at your best relationships. They were probably formed through an early series of positive interactions. You're not likely to become friends with someone if the majority of your initial interactions are negative. Learn something new about each person you work or interact with.

4) Give Unexpectedly-people prefer gifts that are unexpected. Expected gifts do fill our buckets but for some reason, receiving things unexpectedly fills our buckets even more. This does not need to be a gift. It can be sharing a secret, a story, or praise.

5) Reverse the Golden Rule- "Do unto others as they would have you do unto them." This is all based on the fact that one way to recognize someone may not be the best way to recognize someone else. Bucket filling must be specific to the individual

I think that this is very thought provoking and should be a common practice for everyone! I hope you think so too.