How Do You Increase Your Income?

Image courtesy of Stephen Barnwell.

I was in an “on-line forum” the other day when someone asked the question, “How do you increase your income?” The person asking the question was no longer working their “day-job,” and was seeking to make money in other ways.

This person was making a few dollars each week teaching kids how to play basketball, but was looking to make additional money.

The Solution

In order to increase your income, you must increase your value; “YOU” must become more valuable.

By becoming more valuable you will increase your “socially perceived value;” the value society believes you provide, for this, society will owe you a debt. What is money but a social debt, it represents the value you’ve provided thus far; what society owes you. You take that social debt (i.e. money) and then purchase whatever you desire in exchange for the debt.

Let’s Recap: You exchange your time to become valuable, which in turn allows you to purchase things that you value. Before you can purchase things that you value, you must provide others with what they value.

Your salary represents the monetary value you are able to extract from the world. If you make a $100,000 a year, that means society believes that you provide $100,000 of monetary value annually. In order to make more money, you need to increase society’s perspective on your value.

How does a basketball player provide more value?

A basketball player creates more value by becoming a better basketball player; by becoming more valuable himself. He spends his spare time practicing to become “the best” at what he does. He practices when everyone else is taking time-off. He plays with players who are better than he is; he studies and learns how to “out-shine” the competition. He spends his time sharpening his skills. By doing this, he becomes increasingly valuable, and he will make more money.

How does a comedian provide more value?

By becoming a better comedian; he or she spends their time listening to other comedians. They learn from the most successful. While others are sleeping they’re awake writing jokes that have never been heard before. They become more valuable by offering the world something that it’s never seen before. Scarcity makes valuable.

How do I provide more value?

I provide more value by listening to other self-development teachers (iron sharpens iron); I listen to at least an hour of self-development everyday. When I write, I’m writing from what I’ve learned after listening to dozens of other teachers, and hundreds of books. Every book I read makes me more valuable. I know that if my focus is narrow and constant, eventually, I will become one of the greatest self-development teachers.

Enough Value to Make a Living

In order to provide enough value to make a good living, you have to dedicate your time to becoming the best at what you do.

As a first step in becoming the best, you need to commit to “be” your personal best. Honestly ask yourself right now, “Am I giving my very best to what I’m doing, am I giving my all, am I the best version of myself?” I often ask myself these questions, and the answers are not always “positive ones;” when the answers aren’t positive, I begin to look for ways to give my all.

Walter Cronkite said, “I can’t imagine a person becoming a success who doesn’t give this game of life everything he’s got.”

You must empty yourself into your “task” in order to create real value….

Time

It takes time to provide value, when a basketball player first starts playing basketball in elementary school, he doesn’t get paid. It’s not until years later, when we has perfected his skills, and his talent is rare, that he can get paid for the entertainment value he provides.

You must utilize your “time” to make yourself increasingly valuable so that you can command a higher price tag. The more you study, the more you learn, the more time you dedicate to your passion, the more valuable you will become.

This is why you should never quit sharpening your skills, sharpen them often and daily. Eventually you will become very valuable.

That’s why you should do what you love, because you’re going to be doing it for a while before you succeed.

Finally, it’s not enough to just be valuable

I could be the greatest basketball player in the world, but if know one knows about it, what good would it be. Will I get paid for being a great basketball player? Of course not.

Once you’ve become valuable, you need to showcase that value to the world using leverage (e.g. open up a basketball camp and let everyone know about it); now you’re providing real value; and society will gladly pay to see that value. As the quote goes, set yourself on fire and people will come to see you burn! Thank you for reading.

Mr. Self Development is a guest blogger for PickTheBrain. For more information visit Mr. Self Development; just reading his blog will raise your prosperity consciousness, expand your mind, and challenge you to live the abundant life.

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