What would you do, or not do, for money? It is a question we all face sooner or later when times get tough, but paradoxically focusing on money is then exactly the wrong thing to do.
Counterintuitive it is, but to understand why it’s such a bad idea, let’s look at why we are paid at all. Is it to do a job or to exchange value? At work we might presume that someone values what we do because we do get paid. But the attitude of being paid to do a job limits the experience to one of survival – and the result is that we usually just make enough to get by. People sometimes try to justify that situation with statements like “I work to live – I don’t live to work!” But with 40 – 50 hours a week on the job, another 50 or so hours asleep, travel time and personal maintenance, that adds up to a pretty poor deal with life.
The attitude of value exchange opens up a world of new possibilities – for personal fulfilment, for making a difference that you consider worthwhile, and for making serious money – not for what you do, but for who you are becoming.
So whether or not you are employed in the regular sense, here is a formula for being paid more and in a bigger sense, creating more abundance. Don't work harder – or smarter – just add more value! Yes, I know – that's just one of those feel-good facilitator platitudes that have about as much impact as a daily calendar quotation. But my middle name is “practical application” – so let's see how we can make it real! You need only grasp four principles to benefit from a value-exchange attitude…
Let's consider the basics first. How is your pay rate determined? Ultimately it's simply supply and demand. If you add a value that a million other people can add relative to the demand for that skill-set then your pay will be comparatively low – basically you're easy to replace. If you add a value that few others can add relative to the demand then your pay will be comparatively high – and you will have much more choice of employment as well. Yet at the same time, if your heart is not in your work it soon becomes physically and mentally and emotionally draining. So the esoteric ideal is to be able do what you love doing, and have that add a value that is in high demand. Esoteric perhaps, but nevertheless it exposes the first principle – “It’s all about value – and it’s only about value”.
To ground that principle requires an understanding of just what constitutes “value”. Gold is only valuable because enough people agree that it is. So the second principle is “Value is not intrinsic – it exists only in the mind of the beholder”, and in the willingness of collective beholders to exchange money for that value. Therefore we need to discover what lies in the minds of the beholders. It is quite unlikely that the beholder’s values will match what exists in your own mind – that's why markets exist. So, how can you probe those minds? Asking them is risky because customers don't generally know what they want – they simply make choices between various offerings. No one asked for the iPad to be invented; no one asked for a global Facebook network. In other words, you need to “run it up the flagpole and see who salutes it”. That's how real-world value is discovered.
The third principle is “The greatest value you can create is by doing what you love best”. To add a value that is not in keeping with your heart's deepest desire will be draining and unfulfilling, even if you do get paid. But it's not about being naive – it’s about discovering the real-world value in what you are passionate about – and packaging it in a deliverable form. If you are a human being then there are others out there, not far away, who need what you have to offer, who need to know what you have learnt, who need to find what you have found in life, or who are seeking what you are seeking. That's not usually hard to define after some supportive and objective feedback, but the next step can be a bit tricky!
The fourth principle is “Create and package your value-add in a deliverable form – and then deliver it”. Some people are good at creating value but not at delivering it. Others are not so good at creating but they are good at delivering – that is, at selling someone else's value creation. There’s an obvious opportunity for cooperative effort but the best opportunity for your growth and your personal success lies in learning to master both skills. This was a painful lesson for me – I spent 10 self-funded years doing what I loved best – creating a product that I was sure every large company would embrace because of its huge and innovative value add. But it failed to deliver value in the minds of those who put personal success ahead of holistic organisational development – a very big ouch! In hindsight it was an obvious mistake.
When we get to the “I will do anything for money” stage we've all but lost our way, because then we are likely to attempt to extract money without adding any value. That's when we’re likely to be tempted to invest in the get-rich-quick schemes, take risks with shonky deals or start using friends as sales targets, and then the problem of diminishing value goes into a downwards spiral. It's at these times we need to be even clearer about our value-add and focus on that more strongly than ever.
So here is a scenario that will help you get all the ducks in a row. Quit your job – or at least imagine quitting your job. If you don't currently have a job, all the better! Now imagine you have no money – your investments have evaporated – your possessions have lost almost all their value. If you don’t currently have any money, all the better! (BTW this is more a global prediction than an imagining!)
Now, don't ask yourself “How can I survive?” Instead, consider the above four principles from that fresh, clean perspective, at that very time when your gut tells you otherwise. You might just discover who you really are and the truly amazing value you add by showing up!
… and yes, I do run workshops! And I would love to hear about your learning experiences in creating abundance for yourself or others.
Your VitallyMe Personal Development Guide identifies ‘treadmills’ and how to get off them. Staying stuck on a treadmill can limit your transition across the four principles outlined above, so if you’re having any difficulty with that, who you gunna call?
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