We can’t all, always, be the least guy in the room. Sometimes, you’re the strongest person in the room; and you should be! That’s why you are here, to help others develop; to use your experiential wisdom to help others more easily navigate life’s path. So there are definitely times you should intentially be the strongest person in a group.

It’s difficult to decide how to invest when someone asks for your help. My method of deciding isn’t perfect, but I do have a criteria for determining whether I’ll invest in somebody or a group of somebodies:

1. Are they learners? If they aren’t oriented toward Core Value #2  Learning & Growing: Collecting Wisdom, then I am being unwise when I invest the seeds of my experience into their life.
2. Can I make a difference? If investing into another person isn’t going to matter because they aren’t going to appreciate and nurture the investment, or because they can’t—don’t have capacity to use what I am teaching them—then I am wasting the seed of my experience by investing it into their life.

You can’t always know in advance whether an investment of time, energy, and experience into someone’s life will be profitable. Sometimes it is. Sometimes it isn’t. Sometimes you’ve got to know when to stop throwing good seed after bad, or, in the words of Kenny Rogers “you’ve got to know when to fold ’em.” Sometimes you have to extricate yourself from the situation because you discover the ground you are throwing seeds on is too hard to allow them to sprout, or so weed infested that your influence is choked out. I’m  reminded of that old adage “Never try to teach a pig to sing. It wastes your time and annoys the pig.” So I suppose one tip is “listen for the squeeling. When you hear it, that’s a sign you may need to get out of the pig pen.”

Then there are those times when it is right to invest in someone even though there is absolutely no earthly return for our investment. Sometimes it’s about just giving a warm hug, a cold compress, or holding someone’s hand in a comforting way. It’s about being a giver and a blesser; doing for others what they can’t do for themselves. That’s yet a different situation, and that’s an investment we all should be ready to make.