In Tom Rath's discussion on people's metaphorical "buckets", he shared with the viewer a few ways that he or she may keep a "full bucket". The first was fairly obvious and self-explanatory; prevent bucket dipping. Essentially, this is saying to avoid bad things, stick to good things. As simple as this sounds, it's something that many people find trouble doing. Sometimes it's voluntary, but sometimes we have no choice. Everyone has those people that give you no option but to interact with them on a regular basis. The best thing one can do is to avoid adding people or things to that list. Another strategy was to "shine light on what's right". Again, the concept is fairly simple and obvious, but difficult to grasp in the moment for some people. It just makes sense that positive criticism will, in both the long and short term, have positive results. One last strategy for keeping a full bucket was to "reverse the golden rule". The "golden rule" being respect--treat others how you would want to be treated. This last strategy was unique, in that it was not based off of common knowledge or basic fundamental thought. The point made is that not everyone is the same, and ergo, not everyone wants to be treated like you do. Each person is a unique individual with different needs and desires. Instead, one should find out what it is that fills others' buckets, and utilize that knowledge to do so.
While I agree with Rath's points made in his discussion, I feel that it was primarily due to the fact that most of it was composed of common logic. I also feel that the lecture was ultimately dry because of this fact. While I did find some of his research and studies to be interesting, his examples became redundant. I would have much more preferred to have been given a resource to access the studies cited, that way the redundancies are avoided, and anyone who wishes to review more information on the topic may optionally do so.
Personally, as humble as I can possibly be, I definitely consider myself a bucket filler. This is primarily based off of what others tell me, as well as my individual way of thinking. I personally do my best to make people happy and prevent them from feeling sad or angry. Many people have repeatedly told me that they have never seen me sad or angry, and some ask me how that is. I guess the answer is simply because I am, apparently, a bucket filler.
