You know, in life, there are going to be times when things seem overwhelming. Whether it be something on your personal or professional life, you’re not always able to find the solutions yourself. Many times, when you are presented with a situation that seems insurmountable, it’s best to throw hands up in surrender and turn to others for help. Wanting a new job? Just hand that problem off to a friend or a family member. Not sure about what activity to try for the gym this week? Hand it over to the search engine gods by asking Google your question.
What is Google Calendar for Good?
Google Calendar for Good is a new way to help people in need. It’s called Coffee with a Cause, and Google employees can go on a day-long coffee run to deliver meals for the homeless or collect nonperishable food for local food banks.
Why did I decide to use my
I made a chain of hands with bells attached to it and told my coworkers at Google that I would walk around the building and promote voluntary donations from their cash register. They loved the concept so much that several people hopped on board to see how many hands could be organized.
Google Calendar this way?
As part of the Hand Up challenge, in which I raised money for charitable organizations instead of unwanted new clothes, I had my sister create an event on her Google Calendar called “Free Goods Day.”
First Steps of My Challenge
There are many effects of your day-to-day actions that have a global impact. In order to take the first steps towards making a difference, I challenged myself to volunteer for an hour every week. I started slowly and began volunteering at the beginning of this school year. One week, a lot of stuff was happening. I found more opportunities to help people throughout my day, up to about three hours worth of jobs! This experience motivated me to do more days of volunteering – each time trying new things and searching for different areas depending on my time constraints that week.
Step 2: Create Your First Good Workout Journal
At the beginning of February, I chose to take on a “hand up” challenge. In that challenge, I committed 100% of my time to what was in my good work plan every day from February 1st-27th. As part of that plan, I created a hand up journal where each day I listed what good work steps I would complete. From there, at the end of the month, I ranked them based on the results.
Step 3: Find a Way to Help Others with One of the Last 5 Residual Boxes
When I saw that the final box was a project I wanted to donate to, I felt like this task would truly inspire me. After researching online for ideas on how to get money donated for a specific cause, I found that building at least five handstanding platforms in Cambodia could be done for just over $3,000. March 31st was exactly five weeks after switching my hand-up challenge task, so this seemed like the perfect time to start.
Step 4: Action Steps at the End
As I was making my final preparations for leaving my last job, I came across one particular hand-up challenge that has been on my mind more and more.
A few weeks ago, I had filed to leave the nonprofit I work with (we are having a raise) in order to explore some new career options. I knew there was a good chance that I would find some incredible opportunities working somewhere else, but when they decided not to accept people without experience beyond their specialty, I knew it was
time to leave them – it was a tough decision that meant going out of my comfort zone into uncharted territory for a long time. After the time had passed, though, and we were unpacked and moved away from our jobs, one friend asked me about the hardest part for me personally about being downsized: “Did you have any way to do hand-up challenges?” Naturally, this got my attention. There is
no way anyone would ask something like this unless they were genuinely concerned about me or another person’s well being
or feeling lost by what they might actually be feeling. So we ended up doing an actual advance degree hand-up challenge together where we each used inventive means to try and take on big tasks
The Impact on Me and Other People
As I was washing my car and giving back to the Earth, I ran into a group of people in a parking lot about the size of the Washington Monument. As soon as one finished the challenge, she opened up Google Calendar for Good and started asking how many hand-raisers were on their way from our neighbourhood. It felt great to ordain that word each time -we are projecting our own shift in consciousness with every revolution that comes through.
Final Summary.
My “Hand up” challenge taught me that if everyone spends just 15 minutes a day on learning, starting or contributing to a nonprofit project, it is possible to change lives for the better!