Changing the World One Small Act at a Time – Brad Aronson

Win the Retirement Game - Now Available When people first dream of their retirement, their thoughts are of having the time to do all the things they want to do. But eventually, many discover that a secret to a fulfilling life in retirement is doing things for others. Our guest shares his experience and stories of others who volunteer their time to help other people, in ways both big and small. As it turns out, the small things often turn out to be big things. Brad Aronson joins us from Philadelphia. _______________________ Bio Brad Aronson is the author of Humankind: Changing the World One Small Act at a Time. He invests in start-up tech companies, and is passionate about serving at-risk youth. He serves on the boards of mentoring program Big Brothers Big Sisters and Hopeworks, a nonprofit that provides tech training and jobs to urban youth. He teaches entrepreneurship to inner city teens, and has every student start their own company, which has led to many adventures in business. Previously, he founded a tech company in his bedroom that was eventually purchased by Microsoft. He also co-authored Advertising on the Internet (John Wiley). Brad lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with his wife and their son. _______________________ For More on Brad Aronson Humankind: Changing the World One Small Act at a Time Website _______________________ Podcast Episodes You May Like Are You Living Gratefully? – Kristi Nelson The Gift of Gratitude – Glenn Fox The Mind-Body Connection and The Rabbit Effect – Kelli Harding Tiny Habits Can Lead to Big Changes – BJ Fogg ________________________ Blog Post You May Like Find the Volunteer Opportunity That’s Right for You ________________________ Mentioned in This Podcast Episode Volunteer Match A Good News website ________________________ Have comments or feedback on this episode – or on the podcast overall? Or do you have a question you’d like me to address in an upcoming episode? Click here to leave a Voice Message. _________________________ Wise Quotes On Seeing the Positive "...a kid is driving with his grandfather and the kid says Oh my goodness, we have another red light! And the grandfather says how come you're always complaining about the red lights and you never celebrate the green ones? And it made me think I don't celebrate the green lights. And I feel like as a society, we often bond over complaints: The weather stinks. The Phillies are having a bad season. Whatever it is, that's a way that we bond. If instead we looked at the positive our lives would be so much better. A key example is gratitude journals. There's scientific research that if every day you write down three things that you're grateful for in a book, you will be happier. Science has proven this again and again. And that's because taking the time to remember and thinking about what we're grateful for, obviously it's going to help us be happier. Because we're like many people naturally looking at the negative and on the news. We just see the negative all the time. And that's why I love going to good news websites online because I want to celebrate the best of humanity, not just the things that are going on that are disasters." On Volunteering "First it's a wonderful thing to do as a volunteer and work with other volunteers. It gives you purpose. It's exciting. It's engaging and I think the first thing I'd say is have patience. I hear from a lot of people: Oh, I reached out to a nonprofit. They didn't call me back.