To learn more about filling your bucket, visit www.BucketBook.com.

Author Tom Rath helps people learn how increasing their positive interactions can help them create a more fulfilling life.

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 buckets -- 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 the 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 one another's buckets, or we can dip from them. It's an important choice -- one that profoundly influences our relationships, productivity, health, and happiness.

Use this simple Bucket Filling Interview to find out what fills the buckets of each of your friends, family members, and colleagues.

1. By what name do you like to be called?
2. What are your “hot buttons” – hobbies or interests you like to talk about a lot?
3. What increases your positive emotion or “fills your bucket” the most?
4. From whom do you most like to receive recognition or praise?
5. What type of recognition or praise do you like best? Do you like public, private, written, verbal, or other kinds of recognition?
6. What form of recognition motivates you the most? Do you like gift certificates, a title for winning a competition, a meaningful note or e-mail, or something else?
7. What is the greatest recognition you have ever received?
Bucket Filling Interview Guide Copyright © 2003 The Gallup Organization, Princeton, NJ. All rights reserved.

About the author
Tom Rath is a Global Practice Leader at The Gallup Organization. He has led in the creation of assessments, books, and professional development programs, including the science, technology, and language underpinning the best-selling book, Now, Discover Your Strengths. Tom holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan and is pursuing a graduate degree from Johns Hopkins. He lives in Washington, D.C.

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