You will never lose while helping others win. Whether you offer positive encouragement, much-needed resources, or stand shoulder-to-shoulder and work alongside them, there is magic in helping someone achieve a dream or accomplish a goal, even if it’s something simple.

All of us know what it feels like to see what we want, to have the vision but feel we don’t have what it takes to get there. For many of us, we also know what it feels like when someone comes alongside us and gives us a nudge, the encouragement, or the help we need to take that next step toward our goal. Maybe it was a parent, a teacher, a mentor, or a friend… whoever it was, that person’s investment in our lives often goes much further and is much larger than even they realized at the time. Because they helped us cross the distance between ‘how we saw ourselves’ and ‘what they saw in us.’

When I choose to be a “BIG fish” for someone who needs a win, I help them bridge the gap between where they see themselves, and the potential I see in them. Gifting our awareness to someone right when they need it might seem like a simple gesture. For them, though, it may make all the difference. When we do that, for that person, we become more than that choice, we become part of that victory. Not only that, we help them expand their vision as well as their beliefs about themselves.

Sometimes the focus is reversed, and we miss opportunities for others to be a BIG fish for us. This happened to me one day while I was taking care of my mom. She was in a wheelchair, and I was wheeling her out of a doctor appointment. I got her in the car and was folding up the wheelchair to get it in the car. Just as I finished folding up the chair, a nice man stopped and offered to help me lift it into the trunk. I declined, and he asked, ‘Are you sure?’ I said, ‘Yeah, yeah, I got it… Thanks, though.’

What I was really thinking was: ‘What if he accidentally dings or scratches my car getting the chair in? I’m better doing it myself.’ That fear kept me from accepting help. That wheelchair was pretty heavy, and his help would have been a contribution. In that moment, he was a BIG fish willing to contribute, and I was unwilling to receive his help. Fear caused me to miss an opportunity. Not only had I lost the opportunity to, literally, lighten my load, but I also robbed this kind-hearted person of an opportunity to contribute to a win.

Have you ever thought of yourself as someone else’s BIG fish? Where might there be an opportunity for you to come alongside someone today to help them get a win? Something to think about…

Look for people working toward a win. Find a way to help them get there. This is an intentional way to create a great day for yourself and the people around you.