Greetings Tribe!
This is newsletter #18 of Great Is The Way!
What I'm Working On
Core Principles of Success
My current priority and focus is working on a core list of success principles. I have about 78 principles that I'm evaluating and condensing into a powerful reference. This will be the first of several digital products focused entirely on the mindset, principles, and practices that will all but guarantee success. I explore each principle in this newsletter.
The power of principles can help anyone, no matter what level they are at or what they are trying to achieve.
Now, for this week's principle.
Create Value
Our glory is manifested in what we create. Does that sound too big? Not sorry.
The value we create each day is the manifestation of our purpose in life. It’s what makes us come alive. It pushes us to endure hardships. It trains us to focus on what truly matters. It summons every ounce of energy in expectation of the great rewards we shall see. Are you feeling it?
Each day we should create value for the people we serve and for ourselves. Low value, but necessary activities never take priority. Rarely are there exceptions.
Whether we just started or are seasoned pros, we sometimes find ourselves doing things that are not creating or contributing to value.
The key ideas of this principle are:
1. We must be clear on what our value activities are.
2. Set a daily priority to work on value creating/supporting activities.
Identify Value Activities
We might have a main goal such as: help someone buy the house of their dreams, capture forever moments for a wedding couple, or help clients achieve their goals. These are value creating activities.
Value creating activities are "job one." They are the reason we get up in the morning. They are the impact we want to make in the world.
We must be clear on what our core value creating activities are, and make them priority.
There are also less-obvious value creation activities. A key skill is to identify the value in the things we create. Once we identify the value, we can create an inventory of value.
Build an “inventory of value” for things such as:
Portfolio
Customer testimonials
Connections
Feedback
Lessons learned
Training
Our “inventory of value” serves as a reminder to utilize and leverage all that we identify as value.
Prioritize Value Creation
Clearly, value creation activities should be a priority. What is less clear is that we should engage in creating value daily.
Sometimes we indulge in low value activities and justify them by saying we will do more tomorrow. This is a deceptive idea.
I strongly believe we should create value each day, even if only for an hour. For example, we might spend all day trying to get a website issue fixed. Or we might take a moment to research something, and the next thing we know, it’s been three hours. We can’t allow distractions to consume the day.
Strengths Can Be Weaknesses
Strengths can be weaknesses. If we are technical, if we love to think, if we love to talk, we can easily indulge in these strengths and neglect the most important thing.
We make sure our strengths do not become weaknesses by making it subjective to creating value, our number one goal each day.
Summary
Creating value daily is a powerful skill. Even highly gifted people struggle with doing the most important thing - the very thing that creates value.
We must be clear on what value we want to create, and the activities that support value creation.
We must set a daily priority to work on value creating/supporting activities first.
We should also build and strengthen value creation skills.
Finally, we should leverage the value we have, and continue to accumulate (this is huge).
Creating value every day aligns with our purpose and strengthens our belief that every day of our life is significant and has been invested wisely.
Our glory is manifested in what we create. Do the most important thing daily.
Quote of the Week
"Be a man of value." -Albert Einstein
Finally
I publish this newsletter once a week, every Tuesday.
Feedback is crucial (that's a principle). Got feedback on this topic? I would like to know what you are struggling with, what you're interested in, or what you want to accomplish. The door is open.
My definition of success: "I believe the best definition of success is living a life of integrity while pursuing your dreams in a way that serves others."
If this resonates with you, then I'm confident we can grow together.
To your success!
James Wilder