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Welcome to It's a Good Life with Brian Buffini, founder of America's largest business coaching company. Here's a short classic cut from one of our all time favorite episodes.

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Well, the top of the morning to you and Happy Christmas and happy holidays. Got a short little message for you today. More of a gift of encouragement during the holiday season than anything else. I certainly hope you get to spend some time with some loved ones, share some good food, some good times, and maybe even exchange some gifts. That's what this episode is about. It's the gift of giving. And it is a gift. And gift by definition is something given willingly to another without payment. So something we do willingly. This is the season for a lot of gift giving and it's easy to get caught up in the merchandise and the sales and we know the commercialization of the holidays and all that stuff. And we all complain about it, but then we participate in it. But I think the real thing is what is the spirit of it all? You know, in the Christian celebration of Christmas, people recreate the birth of Christ with what's called a nativity scene, right? And these have been around for a long, long time. I have a beautiful one at home that I actually got in Bethlehem. I was in Israel and I was doing a speaking tour and it was there for eight days and it was a three day negotiation. I'd pop in on this little store outside of Bethlehem and I would go in and have a little negotiation, little negotiation. I ended up getting this beautiful hand carved olive wood nativity scene which I've had for 20 years now. And I take it out every year. And I've gone back to Israel twice since to do a bit of speaking. And I always go back and visit those fellows. In fact, my mom, I got her a Celtic cross and they made one for me. It was made out of olive wood. I grew up on a street called Olive Mount. And when my mom moved to the care home, there was very few things they could take. They took their clothes and she took pictures of family and she took that Celtic cross from Bethlehem with that olive wood. And so these nativity scenes that many of us have, and sometimes outside churches or outside civic centers and whatever else, there's typically a set of figurines in a barnyard scene, right? And there's Joseph and Mary and the baby Jesus surrounded by cattle and donkeys and little lambs and all kinds of stuff. And then there's always the shepherds are there. And then we have the three wise men. Mysterious characters indeed. They came from the East, Right, we know that. We know they came and visited Herod the king. So they were prominent people because, you know, the king typically isn't housed in people like you and me. The king is hosting people who are of certain significance. And these were considered whether they were royalty. They were definitely leaders in their own countries. Some argue they might have been a priest or two in there. And they came from the east and they brought gifts. They brought gifts. The first Christmas gifts, they brought three different types of gifts. They brought gold and the frankincense and the myrrh. You know, gold by nature was customary for royal visits for sure, as it is today. Gold was a very valued commodity in the ancient world. And in bringing this gift, there was not only the symbolic nature of the gift, but there was also an economic inheritance being passed on. Think about it, 2,000 years ago, most carpenters would never see gold their whole life. So this was not just a symbolic gift given to royalty, but this was also a very practical gift. In fact, the very first Christmas gift was economic well being. And I think that's an important thing. And that's why I always speak to these subjects. And I hope to speak on more of that in the new year. And it's certainly a gift I would love to give all of you. And a gift that is a gift that can keep on giving to the next generation. So that first gift was not just a symbol of royalty, but it was also a blessing of economic well being. And like I said, Joseph and Mary and Jesus ended up leaving Egypt and going back to Bethlehem. And that's where they started their foundation as a family. And they would have started with a nice economic base. The next gift was frankincense. Well, this is the king of essential oils. It also had a spiritual significance as it was born as an act of worship in, in a temple or a synagogue. However, the practical daily use of frankincense was to bring beauty and rejuvenation, peace and overall health. So the second gift of Christmas was beauty and well being. Myrrh was the third gift. And like frankincense, it had a spiritual significance. It was a often used to anoint the head of a priest. However, its practical daily usage, it worked as an antiseptic. It was an ancient antibacterial. Believe it or not. The first gifts ever recorded were economic well being, peace and beauty and the gift of health. That's the symbolism in addition to the spiritual significance of those three gifts. And so those are three things I think we'd all like, right? Economic well Being peace and beauty and the gift of health. And so with that, today I want to talk about this whole dynamic of gift. Something that's given willingly to another. And so we're going to talk about the gift of giving. We're going to talk about giving of yourself and giving of your gifts. And even though this is a shorter episode today, I still have three points for you. So let's talk about it. The joy of giving. For me personally, other than marrying my wife and seeing my children and grandchildren being born, nothing in my life brings me more joy than giving. Giving is a beautiful thing. I mean, for me, I look for reasons to give an overly generous tip for good service and to generally be a blessing every single day, you know, and that is something that brings me joy. I've made it a lifestyle and a daily routine. The number one thing I believe I give every day is give people thanks. I like to appreciate people. I like to thank them. You know, I'm not an easy guy to work for. I'm very demanding. I'm very driven. I have big schedule. I push people. But I also appreciate people at every hand's turn for the job well done and when they do well. And I like to reward people and thank them and encourage them. But I'll also tell you that sometimes when you're giving, you can be disappointed because you'll give and someone, you know, please and thank you is just a rarer thing nowadays. And that's why when you do stands out so much more. And that's why, you know, it's not like, oh, why can't everybody else do it? Is that for me, in my house, I'm gonna do it, and I'm gonna do it regardless of the response I'm gonna give, regardless of the response I'm gonna give joyfully, because I'm doing it willingly. If you do it from a selfless perspective, because the joy is in the giving itself. The goal is to be a blessing to others, and you just are at peace with that. Winston Churchill says, we make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give. The most important thing to give is to give of yourself. You know, I've always found that the greatest gifts I've given anybody are the ones that took a bit of time, took a bit of intentionality, bit of thoughtfulness, something that took sometimes a little bit out of me, you know, CNN Business reported earlier this year that Americans have collective $21 billion in unused gift cards. Now, I don't want to bum anybody out who's bought someone a gift card for the holidays. But the fact of the matter is a gift card is a gift of convenience. I don't really know what to get you. I don't really know you well enough and, or I didn't have enough time and it's okay. And sometimes our relationship's like that, by the way, and that's just fine. It's, you know, it's not always the size of the gift that matters, but the size of the heart that gives it, you know, and that's really what giving is all about. It's not about, oh, I got a brand new car for Christmas. Albert Einstein says, make all you can, save all you can, give all you can. Maya Angelou said, I found that among its other benefits, giving liberates the soul of the giver. And that's what this season's about. Lastly, I want to talk about giving of your gifts. And this is really not just for this holiday season. Your family together. And we know how politics play a role and people dread family gatherings now because people have different political beliefs and all that type of stuff. Maybe you can use your gifts this year to bring more peace and joy to your family. We all have deeper gifts. Pablo Picasso said, the meaning of life is to find your gift and the purpose of life is to give it away. So what's your gift? Right. What is your gift or your gifts? Kathy Calvin, president of the United nations foundation, said, giving is not just about making a donation. It's about making a difference. And then the last gift you can give is your time and attention. I like to give those gifts to my family. You could give time and attention to causes you believe in and things you believe in and places where you can make a difference. Okay. A priest and author, Nikki Gumbel said, the most precious gift you can give someone is the gift of your time and attention. It is. So then you get to, you know, spend time, start with the people you love and then work your way out from there. The goal is to bless you. It's a blessing to do this work. I'm very thankful to have you as the audience. I wish you a happy Christmas, as we say in Ireland.