I’ve always heard the phrase “pay it forward,” but I never thought about what it meant.

Paying it forward is the act of repaying a good deed someone does for you by doing a favor for someone else. There are different variations to this—doing something nice for three people and telling them each to do the same, or doing something of greater value for someone else—but the concept is the same.

Don’t pay me back; pay it forward.

It’s so easy to get caught up in doing things for yourself and your life, especially as a busy college student. Honestly, I find people get caught up in their own pursuits so often that they tend to forget that there are others around them who could benefit from a simple favor. Sometimes, despite knowing better, I find myself in this situation.

It isn’t that I don’t ever do nice things for people. Actually, I find myself bending over backward for people and offering to do a favor any chance I get. When I do something for someone, though, I always find myself expecting to be paid back for what I’ve done, and if it is something tangible that can be paid back, it usually is without any question.

Then, someone does something nice for me. Usually, it doesn’t have to be anything big or of great value, but knowing someone took time out of his day to make my life a little better isn’t something that goes unnoticed. This raises the question of how I should show my appreciation for the good deed.

The concept of paying it forward showed up in my life last week when I was walking across campus with my boss. We decided to stop at a coffee shop on Hillsborough Street. He ended up paying for my breakfast, despite my insistence he didn’t need to because my salary is way too high anyway.

I continued to beg him to let me pay him back even after we left. I kept saying he was being ridiculous, and paying my bill was something he didn’t have to do.

Instead of relieving my feelings of guilt by allowing me to pay him back, he told me to pay it forward. He said when he was a student, he had professors who would pick up the tab for him, and instead of paying them back, they asked him to pay it forward.

Now, I am faced with the challenge of doing just that. I will have to pay it forward for someone else, just as he paid it forward for me. (I really hope this doesn’t backfire and leave me with 50 people lined up outside my door, expecting me to give them all muffins and bagels.)

Telling someone to pay it forward is like taking a leap of faith. The person who requests his favor be paid forward has no idea whether the recipient will actually follow through and do a favor for someone else. There is no binding contract and there are no conditions that have to be met. There are no limits to what the favor can be.

For some people, it might not even amount to anything, because it will never be paid forward. It might be easy for many people to just forget about it and never pay it forward.

I, however, can promise that I will pay it forward. Maybe not tomorrow, and maybe not even next week, but someday, the favor will be passed on.

The next time I do a favor for someone, I will not ask to be paid back.  Rather, I will continue the cycle, and ask the recipients of my favors to pay it forward.