Value. This is what moves our human world around. At the end of the day, it is what determines what you are able to accomplish, in what time frame, and with who you accomplish with. In fact, the people that consider you a friend do so because you bring a certain level of value into their lives. A significant other is simply someone who has demonstrated value in different areas over a period of time. Every company strives to demonstrate enough value in their product or service through marketing in order to get you to take your credit card out of your wallet.
Value is everything. Knowing this is key. Those that are aware of this fact are at a great advantage. In anything that you do, you will have to demonstrate value in order to progress and to succeed. This is true in every job that you have every worked or in any relationship that you have ever been in. Once you have come to realize this and believe it to be true, you will be in control and can learn to play the game.
Be The Person You Would Invest In
Would you bet on yourself? If you were in a classroom with thirty other students, would the other students know without a doubt that you would be one of the ones that would go far in life? This can make you feel a bit uncomfortable if you are not truthful with yourself but asking yourself these questions is crucial and the only way you will know where you currently stand. If you wouldn’t bet on yourself, why would anyone bet on you? If you don’t spend any money investing in your knowledge, why should anyone invest in you?
Fundamentally, the majority of people never ask themselves these questions nor do they understand how valuable they are to themselves and other people. They are unaware of how the world works and it allows them to be complacent. Instead, people expect things to simply get better with time or believe that someone should just give them a raise. Understand this simple concept; at all times, you are competing with everyone else. Those that understand this and take it seriously, don’t play with time. They keep the distractions to a minimum. They are aware that in order to progress and reach their goals, they have to increase their own value by developing skills, gaining knowledge, and putting in the work required to master their craft. This is the only way to compete.
Understand that you are also in a competition with yourself. You are competing everyday with the person you were yesterday, a week ago, a month ago, five years ago. Those that can look back five years and realize they haven’t progressed much simply don’t take themselves seriously.
It all starts and ends with you. Investing in yourself is easier when you have a strong ‘why’ that doesn’t waver. When you truly know what you are working towards and nothing else matters, you realize how little time you have in the day to get things done. Become a sponge for knowledge that makes you more intelligent and capable. Chase it all the time. Budget some money and attend conferences or join groups where the people you’d like to be like congregate. Purchase books regularly, buy training courses, watch videos, read articles, ask questions. Every hour under your belt that you’ve spent working to increase your value in the marketplace is an investment. Every professional baseball player, basketball player, or football player plays at that level and earns what they do because they have put in the practice required to be valuable to a professional team.
The Value of Increasing Your Value
Everything you want can be achieved by raising your value. It’s what’s been keeping you back. By increasing your knowledge and abilities, you can continue to move up in any job you have. You get a promotion by giving yourself a promotion. You can become so valuable that a job will fight to keep you. You will no longer have to take crap from managers or people at work from fear of not being able to find another job.
Increasing your value also increases your self-confidence and your standards which significantly improves your circle of influence and the circumstance you have in your life. As you progress, it becomes addictive and you will tend to associate less with people that don’t care about progression as much as you do. It opens doors to new opportunities and personal connections as others will respect you more. Remember that the harder you are on yourself, the easier the world is on you.
To get what you want, you have to deserve what you want. There are no shortcuts except working smarter but the work and the consistency will not be circumvented, that is for sure. By developing yourself, you become the secret. The difference between where you are and where you want to be is knowledge. That is what separates those who are stagnant from those who are successful.
