When a single word brings you to a dead stop in your tracks, when a quote resonates so deeply with your thoughts that time gently slows down around you, when a book speaks to you so strongly you want to devour it in one big bite, take it as a good sign! It means you are really listening to yourself as you take in your life.
Thanks to Danielle LaPorte, that loudly brilliant and awe-inspiring woman over at White Hot Truth, that happened to me yesterday. I was listening to her blogcastFM interview, when she said the word: useful. To quote her more accurately:
Bold, underline, italics, capital letter useful.
I had to pause the podcast for now. She had given me too much to continue focusing. Finishing the podcast and the rest of her brilliant advice is for another day. For now, let’s focus on being useful.
be useful
Think about everything you do, say, write, deliver, promise, communicate and send out into your world.
Think about the interactions you have, the people you touch, the questions you answer, the information you deliver, the stuff – the great, authentic, unique and brilliant stuff – that you help create, is it useful? Are you being useful first and foremost?
Frankly, I can think of many other things I’d rather be called. Useful is not sexy or glamorous. Useful is practical and necessary. Useful is when you are doing something right, when you create something worthwhile, when what you create makes the life of someone else better on some tangible scale.
Useful is practical and necessary. Useful creates trust. Useful can turn a random person into a supporter and a fan into a client. Useful can be your whole marketing strategy for starts and I dare say you will not go wrong.
There is the obvious benefit. Useful can be the act of making life easier, less complicated, more efficient, less frustrating, and more fulfilling on many scales, large or small.
But being useful is more. It tells your reader, your follower, your customer, your client, your business partner, your child, or the stranger in the street who asked for directions, that you care, that you have good intent to help and that you are resourceful. Next time, they will consider returning that same attitude to someone else in their life and so the cycle will continue. The cycle of being useful.
how to be useful
It is in the small and simple stuff in life that we find the gold among the sand. A different approach, a thoughtful response, a helpful hand, a show of understanding, these things make the difference between useful and not so useful.
Can you tell me how to get to [insert a certain part of the city]?
“No idea, sorry!”
“No idea where that place is but I saw a subway map around the corner on the right. Hope that helps you.”
What is the meaning of this [insert any concept or idea]?
“Never heard of it. Sorry!”
“I haven’t heard of that but I bet you can find it on Wikipedia or you can do an advanced Google search and see what you get.”
Would you give me some feedback on my speech?
“Your speech was so great that I have nothing else to add.”
“Thank you for asking me to evaluate your speech. For your high caliber of speaking, I recommend continuing to use your strengths – your voice projection, your gestures, and your eye contact – and then work on polishing two more areas for more edge – walk with more confidence toward your audience and do not talk to your slides, talk to your audience.”
What do you do for a living?
“I am a therapist. That’s what I do for a living.”
“I listen to people’s hardships and pain, then find effective ways to help them turn things around, gain confidence and strength, and eventually heal.”
Or when people ask me how I manage to travel so much; I must be born this “lucky”, I aim to refrain from going on and on about my love of Paris and the Louvre, my pining for Hawaii or my adventures in Asia. Believe me, talking about my own travels thrills me to no end. I must have left a part of my soul in the places I have seen in this world and I long to refresh them in conversation. But how is that being useful?
Instead, I focus on how to encourage this person to take the leap of faith, to believe that travel in the 21st century is not an uncommon phenomenon and that the average person can indeed – truly and practically and with a sensible budget – see the world. So I focus on giving this person useful tips, practical advice, and help in breaking down the mental barriers to travel.
what’s useful?
Specific is useful. Simple is useful. Honest is useful. Open communication is useful. Resources are useful. Relevant and applicable information is useful. Practical advice is useful. Making introductions in your network and opening doors for others is useful. Pointing someone to the right direction when you don’t know the answer, that’s useful.
what’s not so useful?
Vagueness in the name of originality. Obscurity in the name of confidentiality. Authenticity without substance. Long, complicated answers. Corporate jargon. Politics and bureaucracy. Writing a blog post without a purpose in mind. Sending a document when you could point to a single sentence that would save someone an hour. Going off tangent when someone is depending on your straight answer. Getting way too self-absorbed in your own musings to forget that you were telling a story for a reason. Answering a question without understanding the question. Asking a question because you didn’t listen to the speaker. Answering a question without thinking first. Doing a favor but doing so without respect or kindness. Buying a book only to put it on the shelf. Taking a class only to forget what you learned. Making resolutions you hardly follow. And much, much more.
Ban the useless in your life. Aim to be useful in every encounter, every interaction, every transaction, every connection, every single time and with every single person.
why to be useful
Useful builds bridges. Useful give you authority. Useful is fulfilling. Useful is cool. Useful is kind. Useful is human. Useful is a way to connect with other humans. Useful makes you approachable. Useful can build you a reputation no marketing strategy can top. Useful stands on its own platform with killer values and strong rewards on the horizon. Useful brings you good association. Useful brings you credibility.
From authority and credibility, trust is born, that sweetest, most imperative asset a relationship could ask for – and with trust, you go far, very far in life and you build, build much in the world of relationships, networking and connecting with other human beings. You pave your own path to success – and you will feel fantastic about it – all this for just being useful.
are you being useful? is what you create useful? do you believe in the power of useful?
Are you feeling stuck in business or life?
If you like what you see here, and want to know how to do the same for yourself, be it creating your business or blog as well as building up your confidence, then book your free 20-minute consult with me and learn my systems & tools: coaching page.
{ 60 brilliant comments, Care to add another? }
Yesterday I was walking outside and one old lady was carrying a pretty weighty bag with her and I was in a hurry. Also, I felt that If I would help her I’ll get some weird looks staring at me…I almost passed away from her when I realized I gotta help her! And I am telling you – it felt so good
This is a wonderful story. It really made my day. Thanks!
Yes a nice story indeed. A perfect way to start the conversation … by being useful to someone else in need of help (but not asking for it). Thank you for sharing the story!
Dear Farnoosh…you got my mental engine going this morning with this wonderful wonderful post. It’s still early here, I was feeling exhausted & unmotivated, but you helped light that fire inside of me. In case there is any doubt in your mind, I must say that you’ve been useful.
Although I’ve never actually used the word useful to describe myself, I definitely aim to add value to the lives of others and to the world in it’s entirety. It’s always at the forefront of my mind. So, I am indeed committed to being useful. Awesome!
Dear Nea, I read this when you posted it but just now getting to replies – it really made me so fulfilled to know that the post had such a powerful effect on your day and your spirits! The same way that Danielle LaPorte had the effect on me. Believe me, useful has not been a word I have said often but now I am thinking in those terms. Thank you for your lovely thoughts!
During a recent workshop I was asked three questions. What do I want to BE? What do I want to DO? What do I want to HAVE? In one single blog post you have given me the answer that was so hard to come up with during that workshop.
I want to BE useful. What better feeling can one get than helping others, whether it’s providing a copy of a lost email (I never delete anything and everyone knows this about me) or hosting a fundraiser to change someone’s life. Both acts provide such a feeling of grace.
I want to DO useful acts. (see BE useful)
I want to HAVE trust. To have people trust you, to know they can count on you for not only the little things but for the big stuff, too, THAT is the ultimate reward. To know that my friends can turn to me when they need an ear, to know my boss can turn to me when he needs an important project completed on time, to know my coworkers can come to me for advice or assistance with a task, to know these people have trust that I’ll be there, that is the thing I most desire.
Thank you for this inspiring blog post. I will think twice the next time I simply respond with an “I don’t know” comment. I will be more useful the next time.
Lee, welcome to prolific living and my goodness, I am thrilled to hear that you tied so many thoughts and ideas together from this post and came up with such brilliantly USEFUL three answers! I am very happy that the post was a source of so much information and answers to you – and to re-affirm my own point, I am thrilled that you have found the post useful and I am so glad I served my own purpose in the writing by helping and inspiring someone else, thank you for sharing this in return!
Hi Farnoosh,
Glad you fixated on the word “useful.” Indeed it is not a sexy word but the implications run deep. We all want to feel that we are a contribution to humanity and the world at large. Making a positive difference in someone’s life is a soul satisfying experience. There is no greater way to experience our ‘unlimitedness’ than by going out into the world and lifting humanity up a notch.
Hi Rob, so nice to see you here, I enjoy your thoughts greatly as you know. Nope, not a sexy word at all but as you say, it has such benefits that I am fine parting with sexy for now! And as usual, words that are worth repeating because you know how to spin it: “lifting up humanity a notch” – thank you!!!
What a Golden Sentence!!
“It is in the small and simple stuff in life that we find the gold among the sand.”
Thank you Abubakar – always for your support and friendship – and the smiles you bring me!
Hi Farnoosh! Wow, you presented a lot of ways that we are and can be useful. Living from ‘how can I be useful’ is an incredible approach towards life. I like to use ‘how can I be of service’ as my daily prayer because to me it instill a bit more the idea of being selfless with the accent on doing things to benefit others.
Thanks for this beautiful reminder on serving others. Loving blessings!
Dear Andrea, how nice to see you here. I think being of service is a beautiful prayer and/or way to approach life. For me, being useful makes it simpler, smaller and easier and it just made so much sense that I had to expand on it. It’s lovely to see you here, thank you for sharing these beautiful thoughts with us, Andrea!
What a useful post! I especially appreciated all the specific examples of how we can be useful (and not useful) in everyday situations. It shows that so often it just isn’t that hard to be useful.
The extra moment it takes to be useful in those examples allows us to make a genuine connection. Our hearts are opened with kindness and compassion.
We miss those opportunities sometimes not because we are mean people, but because we are off somewhere else in our heads instead of paying attention in the present moment.
Wow, so much to think about. Useful. Thanks.
Hi dearest Galen, so nice to see you here – I wanted to be specific. I am so glad you enjoyed the simple examples! I never think twice about the extra moments when helping someone else; it is in fact something that I may have done too much in the early years of my career but hardly regret. Living in the presence is a great conclusion for my post. I should’ve had you write the closing for me
! Thank you as always!
Farnoosh,
I love the power of a single word and you have focused on such an incredible one in this post. Who cares about sexy! The benefits of being useful are so provocative and you shine a light on them all. I often think of this as “being of service”, but what the heck, “useful” is beautiful too.
Thanks for the kick in the right place.
Thank you dear Sandra – I knew you could relate. Hopefully it was not so much a kick as a loving nudge. So happy you enjoyed it – and as Andrea said, “to be of service” is her daily mantra but to me, useful just makes it so much simpler and easier to grasp and maybe practice….at least that’s what the word did for me. Thank you for your thoughts!
Hi Farnoosh,
It is awesome to read another article from you!
I agree that being useful is a great way to build trust and to show others that you truly care. This is extremely powerful and important in this world. Just doing that little extra or going the extra mile can bring light and joy into the lives of others.
And as you suggest, being useful doesn’t mean you have to save the world or to fend off invading aliens single-handed with a kitchen knife. It is more often than not the little things, the small and simple stuff that matter. I love your suggestions on how to be useful. Instead of just brushing people off politely when we don’t know the answer, it really doesn’t take much to direct them to help where they might find it. I love how you focus on other people and placing their interests first, it is truly a great way to be useful indeed!
This is my favourite phrase: “Aim to be useful in every encounter, every interaction, every transaction, every connection, every single time and with every single person.” I think with this mindset, every interaction we have in life will be richer and much more meaningful!
Thank you dear Farnoosh, for this very useful article!
My dear Vizier, I am in the midst of watching the latest Batman movie – where he has to save the entire city of Gothum from evil and well, your example just made me chuckle. Yes, no heroic acts although I do sometimes think of small acts of kindness and generosity as such. It’s so easy to be useful – I can see it when others are to me. In fact, sometimes I ask my brother a question which he does not know and he is often more persistent in finding the answer and I am the impatient one letting it go altogether – the will to help someone else. Honestly, it is sweetly rewarding. Thank you for your deep and brilliant thoughts as always!
Staying useful is a way to stay relevant, and staying relevant is a way to stay connected … a very good thing in today’s connected world.
I’ve refocused on sharing resources and basic usefulness. It feels good to be back to the basics.
J.D., thank you for being here and sharing your thoughts. I didn’t think of it as “relevant” immediately but it makes sense. Staying relevant to the present task at hand and being useful. Thank you!
Wow. I feel scared. Am not sure I am very useful
Thank u Farnoosh, for giving me something very serious to think about.
You are useful and way too modest, dear Uzma, the latter I think is the one you must work on. I know you to be useful and kind and compassionate and generous and a beautiful writer and this is the little I know about you. Your world is lucky to have you! Thanks for your comment.
My God, Farnoosh. A humble , humble and happy ‘thank you’, for your very kind words. Gosh, really ..
Thank you dear Farnoosh, for your goodness , your generous words and your spirit of adventure, learning and accomplishment that is helping us strive to do the same. God bless. What else can I say, much happiness and abundance to you always.
Uzma, I meant every word and a thousand thanks for all your kindness in return. It’s a wonder how we lived without the love and support of our online communities before….! Thank you so much for all your loyalty!
Powerful and useful post, Farnoosh. I love that answer too Lee, “I want to be useful”. It’s like the best mission statement ever. And yes, it’s not sexy or glamorous as you point out, Farnoosh, but it’s what people need — pure and simple. Love this post my dear. I can hear your voice saying it out loud with passion and fire. I can almost feel your growing sense of purpose as you blog these days. It’s wonderful to witness.
A praise from one of my favorite people on the internet is a gorgeous gift for a cold Saturday. Thank you Katie not just for your sweet comment, your thoughts, but also for your closing words and for being a witness to me unfolding this passion one day at a time. You are an amazing role model and I am thrilled you see prolific living coming along. Thank you!
What a great post! I am so exited to apply this lesson in a deliberate way at my coffee shop. It reminds me of a notorious question in the specialty coffee industry that we get all the time… “Can I have a Carmel Macchiato?”. Of course a carmel macchiato is a drink only served at starbucks, but most baristas know what is inside it. Most of my coffee compatriots use this as an opportunity to make the customer feel stupid for not knowing that a traditional macchiato is actually a 3oz beverage consisting of espresso and foamy milk. This has always been troubling to me! I love coffee drinkers… I never want anyone to feel like I dont respect their taste, so I always answer with respect and dignity.
Here are some of the REAL responses to “Can I have a Carmel Macchiato” I have heard over the years, followed by my standard response.
“Yes. At Starbucks”
“There is no such thing as a carmel Macchiato, Starbuck made it up”
“No”
” You came to the wrong place, buddy”
“No…thats a Starbucks drink, we serve AUTHENTIC macchiatos. Do you want one?”
My response…
“Actually, thats a Starbucks creation, but I think what you want is a sweet vanilla latte with carmel sauce on top, and I bet I can make you one you would really love.”
Thank you Farnoosh, I will totally forward this post to my employees.
Now I want a Caramel Macchiato….the one YOU can make me, James…and I am not a coffee drinker at all! This was a fun story to read, thanks so much for coming back, James – I sent this over to Andy to enjoy since he loves coffee, Seattle, baristas and coffee shops and can’t really stand Starbucks
! Yes, your answer is more useful and makes me feel special and cared for as a customer – and your comment made my night. Thank you again and so happy you enjoyed the post!
HI Super girl!
Thats the funnn!! When you have been a catalyst for someone else’s smile..that’s useful to me 
And thank you for the link luv..
Useful is fun! Done from the heart, any act that is a “service” to others, is being useful.
Heart centered living can make you “be” useful in the most unlikely of places…and the best part you dont even realize it
I have a personal motto- Give someone a reason to smile at-least once a day. If that counts as being happily useful…then YAY!
And by the by, YOu are the most Usefully loving Super girl I know
Love you lots,
Z~
p.s. love all the subtle changes to the blog…yummy
Dear Zeenat, hello. Useful can be fun and if it comes from the heart, there is no better feeling. You my dear are beyond useful – but useful you are in countless ways, to me and many others. Talk about all the useful posts I have been referencing to complete my own points here….I’d be an incomplete blogger without you! Thank you for the continuous support. You encourage me beyond words. Much love to you…..enjoy the family time coming up!
Farnoosh, you just made the word “useful” beautiful! It may not be “sexy or glamorous” and it may be very “practical and necessary” – but you truly made it beautiful, important and radiant.
I really liked you specific examples (which were quite useful and helpful) – it clarifies the differences between useful & not so useful
Aileen, so nice to see you. I am so glad you were able to see so much through this post – It’s amazing how someone can put such a spin on a single word and change our perception of it altogether, often for the better. Very happy the examples helped. Thank you thank you for all the encouragement here.
Do I believe in being useful? ABSOLUTELY!
Hardly can greatness be achieved whether in life or in business, without being Unique and Useful. I have come to accept this two factors as the foundation of my life. For me, being Unique helps to be spotted, but being Useful, gets you up there, no matter how high up you aim to be. It’s just the way the universe has been configured, we have to touch a heart before asking for a hand.
Thanks Farnoosh. A great one indeed, I had to retweet and also link back to on my blog. Well done.
Hey Tito, I went to check your blog and couldn’t get to it. I am sure just a glitch – I will try again. I simply love the additional value you bring to this, Unique and Useful. Yes, indeed. If we can make our skill and our offering not just super useful but memorably unique, we can reach the sky. Your approach is very kind and mature. I shall have to remember it. I saw the RT and thanked you and of course thank you for the link back.
Hey Farnoosh,
I think it is important to add uniqueness to our usefulness. I want to leave an indelible mark on the sands of time, one that bears my name and can’t be replaced. My favourite way of saying it is this; “Let your being different make a difference!”
Thanks for checking out my site, had a little hitch with Bluehost, said I was overusing the supposedly unlimited space I paid for. I moved my sites to another domain, I’m back online now!
Yes sir you are back online and it is fast and furious, great!
! Thanks for dropping back in again!
I love the uniqueness factor, Tito. That is exactly what makes us stand out….And your quote is unique, as I would expect no less from you
Hi Farnoosh.
When I first read this post, I noted that I do many things that are not useful, according to the descriptions here, and I do look to transition out of those activities one-by-one.
I can see through your examples that being useful is about wanting to provide the information we have, and I can support this concept. Saying “No idea, sorry!” for directions doesn’t give the person any assistance as to their next step, but if you give them a general idea, or direct them to someone else, then you are doing your part. It is sort of a way to show understanding for their effort to actually ask you those directions. We enable one person, and then they can enable another, and so on.
I have quite a bit of work to do in the “being useful” category.
I would add lastly that folks do love and gravitate towards those who are useful on a regular basis.
Hello Armen, what makes you think you are not useful? I am sure we all have areas to improve but that’s all part of the fun and game. No matter, I am very happy this resonated with you especially on the specific examples. Believe me, I used to just apologize for not knowing but then I started to get more creative because I wanted to have a connection with everyone I met, be it for 1 minute or 1 hour. Being useful helps us achieve that. Thanks for your thoughtful comment!
Hi Farnoosh,
What I like about your post here is how you have made it become such a thought-provoking one. Being useful is usually one of the many traits we all must have, but sadly, most of us (unconsciously) do not want to be useful to everyone. I like the examples you provided, very interesting and clever! Thank you for sharing!
Dearest Felicia, nice to see you again. You are very welcome. You know, sometimes you are right – I don’t really think or care to be useful because I see no point in helping out a stranger but when I started thinking of it in these terms, I realized how much reward I felt for all the times I was specific and useful and it’s a cycle worth repeating. So glad you enjoyed this. Thanks for your lovely comment, Felicia!
Fascinating post, I stumbled across it through a tweet that someone usefully made
I certainly felt a strong resonance as I read your post. As I thought about my own life I could see examples of where I’m deliberately un-useful e.g. someone has wronged me so I deliberately withold useful information, examples where I am just useless through lack of thought and (fortunately) examples where I feel I excel at being useful.
I own a service website and part of the territory is answering support questions. There I generally try to be more than useful by answering their question, sometimes doing something for them or pointing out other things or answering unasked questions. It gives me a good reputation and that matters to me.
I often quote Mark Joyner, author of Simple-ology which is never far from reach at my desk. He has a lot to say that’s relevant to this, particularly in clear communication (your not so useful list is a hot topic for me and I try to consciously fight many of the things on that list).
I’m glad I found this blog, it will now be on my regular reading list – thank you.
Troy, I am equally happy to stumble across a new reader, welcome to prolific living! Self-reflection is a big part of the reason I write what I do – so you can rest assured I found gaps in my own usefulness too….but hey, lots of room for all of us to improve if we are just conscious of the small changes that make a huge difference. Thank you for sharing your story and your circumstances and also a new source, Mark Joyner, who is new to me. Hope to see you again here and welcome again!
That’s a great take on this topic. Very direct and you were really useful by providing those examples. Now, let’s see if I can be useful with my reply!
Usefulness is primarily about exerting energy. It just takes a little inch more action to be useful. Your examples are a great display of that.
James Allen in his book Eight Pillars Of Prosperity says: “Energy, then, is the first pillar in the temple of prosperity, and without it, as the first and most essential equipment, there can be no prosperity. No energy means no capacity; there is no manly self respect and independence. Amongst the unemployed will be found many who are unemployable through sheer lack of this first essential of work energy.” freemindpowerbooks
Going that extra step to be useful says something about your character and concern for another human being.
Cheers,
Thea
P.S. I love Mark Joyner’s work too. Get a free ebook from him at simpleology. He’s always worth reading!
Hi Thea, welcome to prolific living. Thank you so much for your kind words. Yes, direct is my middle name although I try the subtle approach now and again
! Your answer is very very useful – thank you for bringing new resources and information to the conversation for us. I will need to look into these references. I never thought of relating usefulness to energy but essentially, it IS that energy which gives us the intent to be useful in our actions. Thank you for sharing this, Thea!
Farnoosh. Thank you so much for this.
Thank you for the clarity and the gift of genuine substance. I think that recently I’ve read at least a dozen blog posts that have echoed the same tenet, the same principals, thoughts and techniques – regurgitating them in different ways – obscuring the heart of the matter.
I think a lot of the time we get caught up in obscurity, the need to ‘be’ or sell ourselves and/or our services as something that we/they aren’t. In short, there’s a lot of confusing cr*p out there, and it’s deeply refreshing to read something that makes simple, compassionate, non-BS-y sense.
I’m emailing everyone.
Ming-Zhu.
Dearest Ming-Zhu, first of all, welcome to prolific living. And thanks a million for your well-thought-out, clearly-expressed, and very genuine comment! I am so happy this resonated with you and so glad you too see that it is indeed simple to have impact – good, heart-felt and USEFUL impact – on other people in our lives. And so so kind of you to share this with your network. Hope to see you again and thanks so much for sharing your thoughts!
Let me tell you what–this is, by far, the best blog post I’ve read in a really long time.
THANK YOU.
While useful doesn’t sound sexy, it is.
Dear Ash, welcome to prolific living. I think I’ve made “useful” sexy since writing this – so I am going with you. Your comment absolutely and positively made my entire week. Thank you so much! And I dig your profile photo!
Great post Farnoosh- your words just leapt out at me from the page and I could feel your energy.
I love being useful. Creating value and being helpful. It’s not sexy but it’s sassy.
I’m particularly finding I’m having to be more `useful’ than usual now that I’ve moved to Buenos Aires – hand signals when my Spanish vocabulary fails me is useful, my handy mini map book is VERY useful.
I particularly liked your examples of how people can take one step further to step up their game each day. I often wonder why people don’t do it, like the very first comment at the top – what prompted him to help the lady with the heavy bag on this occasion. Will he do it again given that he made both their days in this simple yet generous and very useful act of kindness.
All great food for thought as we head into the Xmas holidays.
PS Danielle LaPorte is a joy. I interviewed her earlier this year and she’s the only person who’s made me nervous – her powerful energy is captivating.
Natalie
Dear Natalie, I loved Buenos Aires but I don’t know if I could live there – much as I love the tango! It is brave of you to live there and learn the culture and the language and experience it….the warmth though, that I miss greatly.
It’s very nice of you to drop by here in prolific living – I am very glad you enjoyed the post. It really is easy to be useful and helpful if we just think about it so I suppose we do so much without thinking about it…..Awareness is key in everything – and do tell me where that interview is tucked away because I want to see it. Thank you and welcome to prolific living. Hope to see you again. Stay warm as we up here brave the snow and cold!
But how do you be useful and give out information without giving it all away … and therefore not get paid for or be able to make a living from your knowledge. Sure, you have to be useful and help other people … but where’s the line between being helpful and being taken advantage of?
Exactly that – you be useful without giving away everything. How can you give away *everything* you know if it is knowledge that you can actually package up to sell? It’s really hard to do. I could talk about public speaking but I can still put together a detailed vast ebook about the topic together because to go into depth and detail takes a lot more than just “being useful”. By the way, I never think of it as “being taken advantage of” – if you want to give away everything for free,that’s great- some people do – if you want to sell it, that’s fine too so long as there is demand for what you are selling and people are willing to buy from you. It’s a personal quest, a balancing act and in the end, you yourself draw the line in between. Hope this helps and thank you for your comment!
Dear Farnoosh,
Only lately coming across this site by googling “on being useful”, I can only hope it’s not too late to comment in what may be a useful way to you.
For me, by linking the idea of Usefulness with Grace, I have begun to establish a criteria for myself, for my thinking, and my various arts. There are so many influences, fashions and fads that it can be difficult to sort what is of true and lasting value — from ideas, opinions and activities right through to your furniture — from what is merely a passing whim. Now I begin by asking myself two questions: Is it useful?AND Is it graceful?
Dear Rosvita, sorry for late reply _ I was traveling! I don’t think you are coming here “late” – as there is no such thing in blogging
! I am very glad to see you here and I love the idea of Usefulness with Grace. I am sure it’s serving you extremely well to have a habit of testing yourself with your own values and standards before taking action….and we all define our own values – although I might b stealing your usefulness with grace idea 
! Many thanks for sharing your thoughts here!
With so many people in the blogasphere, it is the useful (& interesting) ones that I tend to follow. You are spot on!
Thank you Jeanie and welcome to prolific living. I am so glad you found this useful! And happy to see you here in this space….come back anytime!
What a brilliant and insightful post! Definitely got me thinking of how I can be useful to others (and help others be useful).
It’s my first time here but I’ll come around again!
Linda, hi! Welcome to prolific living! I am so glad you found this useful
and you are welcome to come back anytime…..thanks for your comment!
It was a very useful post and i should add “IT WAS INDEED USEFUL”
Had a great impact on me
Well done
{ 13 brilliant comments, Care to add another? }