Today's writing prompt: What do people thank you for?

"The point of this question is to give some thought to the ways you help people with your talents, skills and passions that you might not be realizing (or giving yourself credit for). Another way to look at it is "What do you love helping people with," or "What would you be happy and excited to help others with even if you didn't get paid?"

When other people talk too much about themselves, they may appear to some uptight or egocentric. Yet, we usually enjoy talking about ourselves a lot.
Of course that doesn't mean, we get to. Maybe because we don't want to seem egocentric, because others always like to talk more than we or because people just seldom ask us anything real and mean it.

I have always loved to listen and talk to other people and feel that you learn a lot about someone through asking the right questions. And people really continually thank me for the good time they had talking to me. When I get the chance to converse with someone, I care. There are of course always uncountable nuances that need to fall in place in order to have a meaningful conversation with someone, but I seem to get it right most of the time. And I think it's not only because I listen actively, but because I try to ask meaningful questions.
Esther Derby and Diana Larsen have written in their book "Agile Retrospectives - Making Good Teams Great":

"We learn by asking questions. We learn the most about the things we ask the most questions about."

So, I think people thank me often for the good time, but what really counts for them is that someone cares about who they are and what they have to say.

Another thing is proactivity. When I'm asked something at work for example, I try to never just simply answer, but be also proactive about it. Which usually goes like this:

"Hey Siim, do you know if we have this thing with that?"
"No, I'm sorry! I don't know. (proactive part ->) Would you like me to find out for you?"

In another blog I once tried to answer the question: If my life had absolutely no limits and I could have it all and do whatever I wanted, what would I choose to have and what would I choose to do?
The answer to that included some 16 points on various topics ranging from money to being a successful guitar player. But one of those 16 fits also the third question from today's prompt. And the answer went like this:'

"I would help a lot of people become more successful."

I still haven't clearly defined success for myself. But I know it doesn't mean having a lot of money or achieving some high social status. I think success for me is becoming better than yourself.

That is what I want to be and that is something I would love to help others with even if I didn't get paid.