Zig Ziglar said it best: “You can get everything in life that you want if you’ll just help enough other people get what they want.” Sometimes, you’re helping them first; sometimes, it’s them helping you first. Sometimes, the Synchronicity Freeway is clear, and all you have to do is steer and accelerate. Other times, the cart seems irretrievably stuck in the mud, and it feels like you’re the only one pushing. And perhaps, in that moment, you are.

But that’s when your attitude makes the difference.

If you are sitting by the side of the road, lamenting your bad fortune, or poor choices, or the mud, or whatever it is that you think is the reason the cart is stuck, people might commiserate, and they might feel sympathy for you and your plight…But they won’t necessarily feel motivated or compelled to try to help you.

But, if your response is to cheerfully get into the mud behind the cart and start pushing, insisting to passersby that you are certain that you’ll eventually get it out and rolling again — even though that may appear to be clearly impossible — then more often than not, people will feel inspired to try to help you. And often, it’s just that one extra push that makes all the difference. All the difference in the world.

There are far too many carts stuck too deeply in way too much mud to even try to help every single one you pass. And some people don’t even want the help — they just want you to become stuck, too. That’s why you have to be selective; someone pushing their cart has their hands full, and a clear purpose, and won’t give a single second of thought to pulling you down or stopping your own progress. Don’t pass them by. Because the kind of person who is dedicated to finding their own way back out of the mud will also be the first to step forward and help you get your own cart unstuck should you ever need it.

The dignity that comes from self-reliance is only made stronger by the desire to help someone who made your task a little bit easier, just because they could. And helping someone else whom you know is giving it their all, just because you can, is how you show that gratitude — with action, not just words.

That’s how it works. Go forth, and be Awesome today.