Selfless people are hard to find these days.

When I moved to Tallahassee, FL at 27 years old, I found Josh, the most humble and selfless guy I’ve ever met. When a tree fell and impaled the roof of a house I was about to rent, rendering me & my family homeless, he dropped everything to help. He moved boxes and furniture, loaned us his entire house for over a week, and donated his garage to help us store our stuff. The man is a saint. But what struck me the most about him- and selfless people in general- was his perspective on time and money.

For Josh, and for selfless people, Time, Money, and Social Connections are simply gifts given to them for the benefit of others. This is why he was so willing to give them up until he was disadvantaged.

So, if this is something you’re looking to improve in yourself, here are 3 simple ways you can start practicing the art of selflessness:

1. Selfless People Schedule time to help other people

One of American culture’s most prominent lies is that people owe you their time.

We have all been led to believe that our bosses don’t pay enough attention to our work, the government doesn’t care about our people group, and our family ignores us. While some of those statements are certainly true some of the time, if you want to be a selfless person, you can’t buy into that lie.

My friend Josh taught me this lesson. He helped me move about 5–6 times, and every time he did, he stayed from sun up to nightfall. And he did it all with a smile on his face and never with a complaint. His example has stayed with me and my family for years. And now, when I think of someone who exemplifies time-giving, he is the first person that comes to mind.

Selfless people schedule time give their time freely, even when it’s not advantageous to them. When I found myself moving on thanksgiving and struggling to find people in town to help, here’s what he texted me in response to my request for help: “What better way to celebrate God’s good provision than helping a brother move.”

He could have easily said written me off, but because helping others was already a habit, both he and his family were ready to give.

The Lesson? If you want to be selfless, you have to schedule time into your calendar to be inconvenienced for someone else.

2. Selfless people plan to give away money

After helping me move out of Tallahassee, Josh went home and packed his bags.

He was headed to Baltimore to help someone else move across the country. And he took his family with him. This means that he needed to pay for meals, gas, for hotels. But he gladly did it, and as a result, that person will never forget his service.

If you want to be more selfless, plan it into your budget. You can choose an organization and give every month. Or, you can set aside money until you find someone that could really use it.

Do that consistently, and soon you’ll find that your grip over your paycheck will start to loosen more and more.

3. Selfless people use their social connections for good

LinkedIn has taught us to think of every person we connect with as a stepping stone towards a better position in life.

This is not how selfless people think of other people. And I hate to point it out, but if you think like that, the poison of selfishness runs deeper in your veins than you know. My friend Josh constantly thought of how he could connect a person with another who needed help, and was not ashamed to call in a favor. When I needed to move out of my apartment ASAP, he made some calls and got a few more hands to help.

This is how selfless people think about their social connections.

The difference between a selfish person and a selfless person comes down to this:

“The righteous are willing to disadvantage themselves to advantage the community; the wicked are willing to disadvantage the community to advantage themselves” -Professor Bruce Wattke

The question before us today is, which are you?