Questions to Ask Before Volunteering - Obligation

Volunteering is one of the most rewarding things you will do. You will receive as much for giving your time as the ones that benefit from your hard work. Volunteering will also be a frustrating experience if you do not consider the answers to a few questions before you commit your time and energy. One of these questions is "Do you know what your true obligation will be?"

It has been my experience that the one that will be doing the volunteer work must estimate the amount of time required. In almost every situation where I have considered a volunteer position in the past, I was told it would take considerably less time than what I felt was needed to do a quality job.

They may be concerned that you will be scared off if you knew how many hours it would really take. Maybe they don’t have the skills required to assess the amount of time it would actually take. It may also be that they are stating what someone else told them and the estimate was not based on the current tasks and circumstances.

Regardless of what you are told about the amount of time it will take and the skills that will be required, be sure you learn enough about the expectations of the job to make your own informed decision. By doing this, you will know if you will be able to give your volunteering responsibilities the attention they deserve while also considering the other important priorities in your life. If you believe the commitment will be considerably more than you can bear, find another volunteer opportunity that will be a better match for you. Once you participate in positive volunteer experiences over time, you will find ways to dedicate more time to volunteer.

How to Make More Time for Giving

Do you have a desire to spend more time giving to others but you don't know where the time is going to come from? Have you tried several time management approaches all of which gave limited results or didn't last beyond a few weeks or days? I had the same problem and so did my friend David.

David Perdew has just written a new book called "Bad Dad: 10 Keys to Regaining Trust", is developing and teaching an online course, makes time for his family, and works a full-time job. Some students in his class have recently stated they don't know how he does it all. I recently talked with David about his "secret." It was no surprise that he has learned what I have.

You need to determine what your values and life purpose are and then spend your time doing those things that are most important to fulfilling them. Everything else should be delegated to someone else or not done at all. If giving to others is high on your list of values, you will make the time to do it more and feel great about it.

I spent the energy to determine my values and life purpose in my mid-forties. Some people might think I was going through a mid-life crisis (or man-o-pause as my friend Nick would call it). You are never too young or old to take your life purpose seriously.

The following two books were very useful to me and I highly recommend them both:

- "The Power To Be Your Best" by Todd Duncan
- "The Purpose-Driven Life" by Rick Warren

If you don't know your life purpose at this point in your life, you need to take the time to discover it. It will be a life changing experience.

How Much Time is Worth Volunteering?

I am amazed by the number of people that I hear from who apologize for only being able to volunteer one or two hours a week. Some of them don't feel like the time they have to contribute can make a difference. Some even avoid volunteering because they consider their potential contribution a waste of time. Does this describe you?

This way of thinking couldn't be further from the truth! Let me prove it to you by walking you through a short exercise. It will only take you a few minutes to do this exercise, but it will be worth it.

* Think back over your life and make a list of every person that had a positive impact on you.

* Once your list is complete, write down the amount of time it took them to make that contribution.

* Review your list for at least one person that helped or encouraged you in a short amount of time.

Most people that do this exercise will uncover memories of several individuals that contributed to their life in a positive way. Many of those did it through something they said or a small gesture they made. If they could do it for you, you can do it for others!

There is someone in this world that is waiting for you to donate whatever time you can afford to make their life and the world around them a little bit better. Don't let your thoughts of wanting to have more time keep you from giving to that person today.