To clear things up from the get-go, this is not meant to be derogatory or judgmental to people of low or no means.
This is a topic of “generalizations”, and not about pointing my finger at anyone, and calling them “poor”.
In my mind EVERYONE has HUGE inherent personal potential.
Having said that, I have lived for almost 2 decades in a developing country (Indonesia), and travelled to over 50 countries around the world (including most of Asia, Africa, the Middle East and South America), where I have observed – first hand – poverty.
I am also a fan of the work of Margatte Wade an entrepreneur born in Senegal, who wrote an excellent book – ‘The Heart of a Cheetah‘ – and is very clear about why there is so much poverty in Africa. She believes the way out of poverty for many Africans, is free markets and economic freedom (i.e. ease of creating and doing business), to unlock the vast amount of entrepreneurial talent bubbling away throughout Africa.
So, looking into poverty, and why some countries struggle more than others, is not the focus of this conversation.
In fact, I am coming right back into my back yard, to look at what “characteristics” might keep someone in a lower state of income “potential”, versus the person who is financially thriving.
As Tony Robbins was a fan of saying: “Success leaves signs“.
So again, although I might come across as “unwoke” (doh!), I do like to keep things real, and I have spent a lot of time over the last 18 years here in Bali, trying to help locals level up – with marginal success.
The reasons will become clear shortly.
And forgive me, if I sound a little (or a lot) “politically incorrect”.
My personal philosophy is that avoiding the obvious, or the truth, is not that helpful when it comes to learning, growing and getting better results.
And one last Caveat: I am well aware that when someone is completely in survival mode – focused only on shelter, food and safety – it is very hard to tap into creativity and growth. So I am not talking about people in this case either.
Being a “valuable” asset
The other week when I was a Panelist on a panel focused on the subject of “Eliminate Money Blocks & Activate Abundance“, and in the lead up to that, I was considering all things that lead to abundance.
One of the things that popped up for me – at a very practical level – was the need to be of value (to your employee and the job market in general).
To have the skills, knowledge, temperament, experience and character, to be of value to a business or the market place.
The more VALUABLE you are perceived to be, the higher salary or income you can ask for – and expect to receive.
We become more “valuable” by honing our skills, experience and working on our personal character.
The person who is constantly learning and improving, is likely to surpass their peers, as they are likely to be more beneficial to a company, or the likes.
One thing I have noticed in my metaphorical ‘backyard‘ is that many people are not fans of learning new stuff.
Or even improving on what they are doing.
The thing that sets the successful from the mediocre worker, is the successful worker is always looking for ways to improve themselves and their results.
The mediocre worker, just does the bare minimum – to get paid – and wonders why they are not getting ahead in life.
I see this time and time again.
A number of the guys building our house – who are actually beyond pure survival mode – would do a very average job, that needed extra supervision and often needed to be redone or fix up, but then would complain about their financial situation.
They were not aware of the importance to increase their value (first), and then the rewards follow.
Fortunately, there were 1 or 2 lads on the site, who would go the extra mile, and they would be the ones who would get bonuses along the way.
They were more valuable, and therefore attracted more value (in the form of money, gifts or free dinners).
A two-decade fascination
Over the course of the last 20+ years, I have often sought to help select individuals – from a lower income bracket – to get ahead in life.
Some of it has involved giving them capital to build a small pop-up store or buy a water delivery truck or cover their business rental for a year.
In other cases, I have offered business advice, or suggestions on a product that would do well and is within their means and resources to execute.
Of all the times I have helped give someone a leg up, very few of them have succeeded.
The ones who did, listened to the advice offered, modified it for their situation, and then took action.
The other thing that separated those that did, and those who didn’t, comes as no surprise to me these days.
The thing that makes all the difference was MINDSET.
Actually, the difference maker in all cases was changing their Mindset, in one or all of the following ways:
– They stopped complaining and blaming and focused on doing the work.
– They focused on becoming more RELIABLE (i.e. they understood it affected their results).
– They sought knowledge, rather than waiting for it to land in their lap.
– They took personal responsibility for the things that didn’t work.
– They paid more attention to ‘feedback’.
– They developed their persistence, resilience and Grit.
– They tapped into their creative potential.
– They became action-oriented and solution-oriented.
– They became more actively and expressively grateful.
The relevance for you
Firstly, the Mindset-adjusting list above, is pretty useful for all of us.
Also, recently I read the first couple of chapters of a book on success habits, with the first being about “reliability” (which I listed above).
The author’s main point was actually about being on time.
He had a VERY strong opinion on poor timeliness having a huge impact on your perceived reliability and therefore your value to others.
I tend to agree with him.
It might seem a little thing to some people, but if I sit with it, and consider the people I know who are not good with ‘being on time‘, I definitely have them listed in my internal cataloging system (maybe even unconsciously), as people I could not depend on 100%.
And if I was in the hiring and firing game, I would definitely choose a timely person, over an untimely person.
So, coming full circle to the topic of this conversation (what not to do), and the idea that we want to be people of high-value so we attract higher levels of abundance; are there any areas in your life where you might be costing yourself some VALUABILITY points?
Are you constantly learning and growing, in order to level up?
Are you accepting the right level of personal responsibility for your actions and outcomes?
Are you doing your best, consistently?
Do you do what you say you will do, all the time?
Are you humble enough and willing enough to ask for help?
And finally, what other ways can you become even more valuable, and create a larger attractor field for abundance?
In Summary
There are things we do, or don’t do, which determine the results we get in life (obviously).
The more VALUABLE you are perceived to be, the more value you can ask for (when talking salaries or costs for services).
If we don’t change our Mindset, we are VERY likely to get exactly the same results – which I have witnessed LOTS of time.
Generating abundance is not a mystery.
My Parting Words
I had an idea in mind about the topic I wanted to talk about, but I was a bit nervous about just blurting it out.
And over-generalizing.
I wanted to talk about the bad habits, behaviours and thought-patterns I had personally witnessed – lots of times – when it comes to helping someone generate more abundance in their lives.
It was easy for me to observe it – first hand – over the last 7-months building our house here in Indonesia.
Like the time there was no door built between the bedroom and the ensuite, and the wall had to be knocked down (lucky it was only about 1m high at the time! ;-)).
The lads not only didn’t look at the plans, but also weren’t that interested in learning how to interpret the plans.
Stopping them from becoming more valuable to me and future clients.
The challenge for most people – and these lads were a classic case – is that you need to become more valuable FIRST before the financial rewards come.
Most people want more money – first – and THEN they intend to perform at a higher level.
Does this make sense?
I think it is a super important point.
We need to invest in ourselves first, and then trust that the rewards will come at some point in the future.
That my friends, I think, is the key message, and why I am a big fan of this Self-Growth, and Personal Development space.
I work on me, first, and then all the rewards for my effort, will inevitably come.
It might even be an unwritten Law of the Universe.
On that note – let the abundance flow!
Have a great day, and a week of becoming even more valuable (and then feel the rewards flow).
Take care.
Carl
Quotable QUOTE:
“The more Valuable you are perceived to be, the more value you can ask for, or expect to be given.” Carl Massy
(Author of 18 Ways We Make Life WAY Harder Than It Needs To Be)
PS: Have you read or listened to this book yet? 18 Ways We Make Life WAY Harder Than It Needs To Be
