The Theory of the Dipper and the Bucket

Each of us has an invisible bucket. It is constantly emptied or filled, depending on what others say or do to us. When our bucket is full, we feel great. When it’s empty, we feel awful.

Each of us also has an invisible dipper. When we use that dipper to fill other people’s bucket – by saying or doing things to increase their positive emotions – we also fill our own bucket. But when we use that dipper to dip from others’ buckets – by saying or doing things that decrease their positive emotions – we diminish ourselves.

Like a cup that runneth over, a full bucket gives us a positive outlook and renewed energy. Every drop in that bucket makes us stronger and more optimistic.

But an empty bucket poisons our outlook, saps our energy, and undermines our will. That’s why every time someone dips from our bucket, it hurts us.

So we face a choice every moment of every day. We can fill another one’s buckets, or we can dip from them. It’s an important choice – one that profoundly influences our relationships, productivity, health, and happiness.
How full is your bucket?
-As told by Don Clifton, father of Strengths-Based Psychology

“The greatest revolution of our generation is the discovery that human beings, by changing the inner attitude of their minds, can change the outer aspects of their lives.”
-William James

“We are rich only through what we give; and poor only through what we refuse and keep.”
-Anne Swetchine

“Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude.”
-W.W. Ziege

“Goodness is easier to recognize than to define.”
-W.H. Auden

“The people with whom you work reflect your own attitude. If you are suspicious, unfriendly, and condescending, you will find these unlovely traits echoed about you. But if you are on your best behavior, you will bring out the best in the persons with whom you are going to spend most of your waking hours.”
-Beatrice Vincent

“The smallest good deed is better than the grandest good intention.”
-Duguet

“Blessed are those who can give without remembering and take without forgetting.”
-Elizabeth Bibesco

… and remember: what makes greatness is starting something that lives beyond you, is bigger than you, and has both a lasting and profound impact on another.