Everyone has some innate talent, some “thing” they have.
That “thing” is available in nearly endless supply, since it’s part of every person’s essential nature.
Some people are helpful. Some are just full of hospitality. Others are humorous. Still others are organizers.
Everyone has lots of whatever talent they were born with. I like to play with ideas. I’m not sure that’s a talent. This is OK, because other people who value this tell me they enjoy me sending them interesting links and books on topics of interest. So, apparently I do have some kind of valuable talent there.
If you have a nearly endless supply of something, it is easy to offer it to others.
If the receiver does not have that talent or that “thing” you have, and you provide it absolutely free, including being free of any obligation to reciprocate whatsoever, then you have just created something out of nothing.
Repeat: Something out of nothing.
That thing that you have loads of: helpfulness, a talent at being organized, your ability to do research, humor, whatever it is– it costs you next to nothing, because you have an endless supply of it. It’s part of your nature. You cannot stop yourself. It’s not like you have any choice in the matter.
I have a friend, she is totally amazing at Myers Briggs and other personality profiling tools. I gain tremendous value from what she perceives as automatic and natural- and in 100% abundant supply.
I value her talent in this area higher than she does!
Surprise: The thing you have so much of is often valued more highly by others than it is by you yourself. And when someone who lacks your gift receives some of it from you, you create value from nothing.
At scale, as a norm, in a culture, this idea has the potential to create tremendous amounts of value and wealth in various forms.
This is emphemeralization: doing more and more, with less and less, until we are doing everything with nothing. The idea as expressed by Buckminster Fuller has to do with technology, yet it can be applied to social technology, too.
As a culture hack, being generous with your gift is hard to beat.
The Moral of the story:
You have a gift.
You have loads of it.
You can afford to be freely generous with your gift.
Related Links:
Ephemeralization (link)