Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the realm of the dead, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom. Ecclesiastes 9:10
This is so for several reasons. When you work
as an employee for someone else, you are indoctrinated into the system of selling
your time for money. You expect to make the most money in the least amount of
time possible. Your “time for money” mindset is not an Entrepreneurial Mindset
because it misses the crucial point: entrepreneurial success—the only road to
financial wealth—has nothing to do with exchanging your time for someone else’s
money, but everything to do with your creation of value that will benefit
others.
Another reason why you may not want to
embrace the principle that requires that you exceed others’ expectations
regardless of compensation is that somehow you believe that you are entitled
to success just because you showed up for work this morning—late, as usual. One
seeking expansion and evolution (one having an Entrepreneurial Mindset) must
work longer days, months and years than one who has an employee mindset.
A third reason you may not want to exceed
others’ expectations regardless of compensation is that you have not been
programmed to go the extra mile, or distance yourself from those around you by
the quality, quantity, and excellence of your product or service. The expanded,
ever-evolving entrepreneur must strive to do the work, sell the product, or
provide the service with ever-increasing skill and effectiveness. In short,
only proactive, forward-looking, and resourceful people will attain the success
they claim to be seeking.
When you exceed others’ expectations
regardless of compensation, you set yourself apart from most people. In
fact, you place yourself in a position where you have few—if any—competitors.
Having such a posture permits you to own what you do and take great pride in
it. Under these circumstances, the product or service you provide others has
personal meaning to you. Also, you seek to upgrade your own performance and
look for ways to improve the entire process of producing whatever it is in
which you are engaged. Your productive and attitudinal change in mindset is unmistakably
noticeable to your clients and customers. It sets you apart because you know
you are adding value to others. You are no longer selling your time for money:
you are creating value above and beyond any dollar amount you receive; and that
value accrues to the self-image you have of yourself in your unconscious.
You love and appreciate yourself as a person of inestimable worth who is no longer alienated from the product or service you provide. This selfless behavior of yours, over a consistent period of time, begins to earn for you a reputation that attracts wealth to you and retains wealth for you.
1 comment:
Thank you for your words and advice. I agree with you and have to add that we need to acknowledge that the economic divide has widened tremendously. There are so many people who work to the point of exhaustion and are still not paid a living wage. Corporations hire people just under the number of hours where they'd have to offer benefits, forcing those workers to work two or three jobs --- all without benefits. The number of people who work forty or more hours a week and still qualify for food stamps is unconscionable. These workers have been systematically demoralized. No matter how good their performance is there seems to be no place for advancement. And yet many of these people will be the first to help someone who is worse off than they are.
I know many people who think that a person is poor because they are lazy. We need to stop victim blaming and demand employers to compensate their employees accordingly. I see nothing less Christian than a rich CEO accepting obscenely large bonuses while the company's employees live in poverty.
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