003: A Gift for the Person Who Has Everything

Carol, my producer, said her Thanksgiving was great, and that she enjoys it more than Christmas because there’s no gift buying. She said the hardest part of gift buying is getting something for the person who has everything.

Well today we’re going to talk about that, and hopefully solve that problem for Carol and our listeners. Today’s episode is about giving a gift that you can’t buy online, or in any store. And it starts with a story about a gift given to me years ago.

Bullet point outline of today’s show.

• My wife Janet watching TV one evening, while I was working in my office
• I walked into our TV room. Another one of those never-ending Hollywood Award shows about someone getting a lifetime achievement award.
• I then said, while walking out of the room, “I think everyone should get a lifetime achievement award at some time in their life.”
• While I soon forgot what I said, Janet did not. She was listening to me. Little did I know her listening skills started her creative juices flowing to take my throw away comment “I think everyone should get a lifetime achievement award,” and turn it into something.
• I discovered several months later what a good listener she was, when for my birthday, she and my son and daughter, and their spouses, presented me with a Lifetime Achievement award.
• It looks like this:

16 x 13 inch horizontal frame - matted with a 7and ½ x10” sheet of paper

The top of which reads “On this day in history (my birthday) in 1999 John Michael Certalic is hereby awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award for attaining the following accomplishments:”

List of 30 “accomplishments” all inside family stuff, some serious, mostly funny. There’s a family story behind each one. Here are a few of them:

Most Courageous Piano Student, 1982
Best Franklin Little League Dad, 1980’s
Best source of late-night after travel pizza - 1988-94
Parent of the Year - Grace College - 1991
Best speech given by father at daughter’s wedding - 1993
Best father-in-law, 1993-1997
Most organized home office - honorable mention - 1998
Home of the best travel destination for birds - 1990’s
Most sensitive to the thirst level of UPS man - 1998-99
Blizzard-Driving Safety certification - 1999
Faithful supplier of dumping flowers - 1990-91

“And most importantly…Boy could that man dance!

You can do this too. You can give a “Lifetime Achievement Award” to important people in your life

Results a listener will experience when he/she implements the solution

Here are 7 results you’ll experience when you give a Lifetime Achievement award to someone who has everything - and to someone who has nothing

1. You will save money. Lifetime achievement awards costs very little money, if any at all. You can print it from a template on your word processor.
2. Your family, or mutual friends, will be brought close together, as you ask “What are some serious and funny things we can give our friend an award for?”
3. You’ll become a better listener and observer of the important people in your life, as you think about what to note in your award
4. You will connect on a deeper level with recipients whose love languages are words of affirmation - gifts - acts of service. That’s 3 of the 5 love languages right there in one gift (physical touch and quality time being the missing two). It will be especially meaningful to these kinds of people
5. You’ll create a historic record of a several points in time about a relationship. It can become an heirloom
6. You’ll have a lot of fun doing this,
7. It can repeated. You can give a Lifetime Achievement Award many times for many things.

Show summary in a sentence, the “The Big Idea” of today’s program.

One way of transforming a relationship into the best it can be is by doing what it takes to give someone a Lifetime Achievement Award.

Here's a way you can respond to today’s show

Think about a relationship you would like to honor, and begin listening to, observing, and reminding yourself of the good qualities of that person. You can it individually, but it’s more fun to do it collectively.

Next Week

I hope you come back next week to listen to the next episode of “You Were Made for This.” The easiest way to listen is to subscribe to wherever you get your podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Play and others. That way you’ll be notified each week when a new episode comes out to help you transform your relationships into the best they can be.

Quote of the Week

Take delight in honoring each other.

- Romans 12:10, New Living Translation Bible