The Pickle Challenge for Victims of Hurricane Harvey
In 2014 Midland Memorial Hospital in Midland, Texas was the first organization to take The Pickle Challenge for Charity (see more at www.PicklePledge.com). Since then, 30 different organizations have raised $63,474 for charitable causes when their people turned 251,096 complaints into 25-cent contributions during their one-week Challenge periods. In almost every case, we’ve also heard reports of a palpably more positive workplace culture, and stories of individuals who have learned to be happier and more positive in their personal lives as well. Bob Dent, MMH’s COO/CNO, and I wrote the book Pickle Pledge about how to build a more positive culture one attitude at a time by turning complaints into contributions.
Earlier this week, Midland Health relaunched The Pickle Challenge for Charity as a way of raising money for the Texas Hospital Association’s relief fund for victims of Hurricane Harvey. The campaign is still underway, but including matching donations more than $10,000 has been raised.
Imagine how much money could be raised if every one of us paid more careful attention to our own attitudes, and if every time we caught ourselves whining or complaining about something – even if we were just thinking it and not saying it out loud – we chalked up a 25-cent donation for Hurricane Harvey relief!
So here’s my challenge to you. For the next 7 days, carry around a notecard and a pen. Watch what you think and watch what you say. Every time you catch yourself engaged verbally complaining or giving in to negative victim thinking, make a mark on your card.
At the end of the week add up all the marks you’ve made. Multiply that number by 25 cents and write a check for that amount to a charity that is helping people cope with and recover from Hurricane Harvey.
Your wallet will be a bit lighter (perhaps quite a bit lighter if you’ve done this in good faith!), but your heart will be lighter as well.
And you just might find that internalizing The Pickle Pledge to turn every complaint into either a blessing or a constructive suggestion is as life-changing for you as it has been for me and for many others.
Chief Nursing Officer | Executive Coach | Author | Keynote Speaker | DNP, MBA, RN, NEA-BC, ACC, FACHE, FAAN, FAONL | Passionate Advocate for Professional Nursing Practice & Leadership Development.
7 年Another way to look at the Pickle Challenge for Charity, is to really check our attitudes. Are we as grateful for the things we have and enjoy. Perhaps we could be a little more grateful. If that's the case, consider making a donation to the Pickle Challenge for Charity. That's what we're doing at Midland Health this week ... being a little more grateful. And, we'll donate all of our proceeds this week including matching donations to the Texas Hospital Associations Employee Assistance Fund (https://www.tha.org/harvey/assistancefund) to assist victims of Hurricane Harvey.