This chapter, we’re going to discuss the profit motive. We’ve got six different sub-topics to talk about. The first one is, we are surrounded by mixed messages, but what are your true options for capturing value? Two, capturing value. Three, the three ways of learning. Four, no matter the approach to capturing your value, the fundamentals don’t change. Five, most people live in financial scarcity because they lack the correct vehicle to get paid and capture the value they desire. Six, rules to value.
We’re Surrounded By Mixed Messages, But What Are Your True Options For Capturing Value?
In today’s world, we live in a specialized world in that we have the doctor, we have a fireman, your home builder. You wouldn’t call your doctor to build your house. And you would not call your contractor if your house was on fire. You’d call the fire person. You call them after to come fix it, but you wouldn’t call them during. So, when you’re thinking about capturing your true value, you have to think of what can you specialize in? What are you good at? What can you capture the greatest amount of value? Now, it doesn’t always have to be what you like. It has to be what you can do in scale. So, you might not necessarily like to write, but if you’re really good at writing, then you need to specialize in writing. You can do what you want to do later. But first, figure out what you can do to capture your true value, the most amount of value that you can get.
Capturing Value
We learned about specialization. So you have to learn how to specialize in what you can do on scale. Don’t try to specialize in something that you’re kind of fast at, that you can kind of do naturally. Scale what you can do naturally. Get good at that. And then later, you can work on different skills. But master what you’re already good at.
So capturing value, you can be the greatest artist in the world, but if no one sees your art, then you have no value. You need to have a system in place to begin capturing your value. All successful people have one major thing in common. They have a vehicle to capture the value they create. The quality of your life is equal to the value you can capture. If you can’t capture any value, then don’t expect a high quality life. It’s almost to say you are being selfish if you do not capture the value in your life.
Now let’s talk about three different types of people, whether they capture their value, whether they do not capture the value. First, a homeless person. Second, the average person. And third, the exceptional person.
Now, it’s almost obvious. The homeless person is not capturing the value that they could provide in life. So they have a poor quality of life. In terms, they’re being selfish because they’re denying the world their value. Each of us has value. It all depends on whether you capture it or not. And you radiate it out to the world. The average person, capturing glimpses of their value. They’re having the attaboy every now and again. They have an average quality of life. Their fear causes them to be selfish, not allowing their attaboys to compound, to being exceptional in whatever it is that they’re doing, and capturing the most amount of value that they can provide to the world. Now, the exceptional person is the person that’s radiating all their value to the world. They have no fear. Discouragement just doesn’t exist in their world. They’re going to do it regardless. So they do it regardless. They capture all the value of their life. They have the highest quality of life. And they’re selfless because they’re giving all that they possibly can to the world. Does that make sense?
Look at Steve Jobs. Steve Jobs was an exceptional person. Why? He gave every thing that he could to the world. Let’s look at Tupac Shakur. Died at 25, but it took 10 years after he died for all of his music to come out. Why is he an exceptional person? Because he produced so much that his value radiated to the world. Let’s go to Martin Luther King. Same concept. He created so much value and he radiated it. It’s not about being the greatest artist and then never letting anyone know. they went through a lot. This is before social media. So they struggled and they pushed. But they were so exceptional at what they did. They radiated their value to the world. They were selfless in giving themselves to the world. They were so selfless. They gave their lives. But today, years after they’re gone, we still talk about them. Malcolm X would be another one. Now he radiated so much value that, even at the time, the Nation of Islam, and if we look years later, he was so valuable, and he was such an exceptional person, that out of the Nation of Islam and Malcolm X, we remember Malcolm X. I can’t even remember the Nation of Islam’s leader right now. Why? He might have done exceptional things, but he, himself, was just an average person. He didn’t give his value like Malcolm X did. The first rule to this is don’t lose value. No matter what you do, don’t lose your value. Second rule, always remember the first rule. All right, now we’ve talked about value. Well, now you can be like, well, how do you get to that part?
There’s Three Ways Of Learning
Most people get stuck on the second, understanding. But make sure you make things instinctual. So work on being on instinct. So, after you know what value you have, and then you have to learn how to capture your value, how to radiate your value. You have to learn and then be constantly learning all the time. Always, always, always. And that’s how you conquer rule number one, which is what? Do you remember what rule number one was? Don’t lose value.
So, hearing. Acknowledging a new idea or term. The second one is understanding it. Studying the new term or idea until you can teach it to another person. And then making it instinctual where it becomes second nature, no longer have to think. It is ingrained in your frame of mind. Now, let’s think of a baby. And I don’t know why this is the first thing that popped in my mind. Hearing and seeing. Potty training. When I was young, I was potty trained extremely fast. I don’t know why, but I was. I understood that idea so well that when I was at the daycare, I was teaching the other kids how to become potty trained, and how to get off the diaper. Then making it instinctual is, it became so second nature that even to this day, I know how to go to the bathroom.
I mean, that’s a stupid example, but it’s the same thing. And it’s so easy to understand. First it’s hearing. Acknowledging a new idea, a new term like, what? I don’t have to go to the bathroom on myself. Okay. Understanding it. Studying how do I get this diaper off of me? How do I go to the bathroom? And then knowing it so well that even in goo goo ga ga language, you can teach other babies, in goo goo ga ga, how to live a brand new life without the diaper. Then making it instinctual to where no longer when you have to go, you even think of going on yourself. It’s instinctual that the second you got to go, you’re going to the bathroom. Now, you can take that with finances. That was very simple. And I’m pretty sure each and every one of you will be like, “Erik, that is just stupid. That is so simple for you to understand.”
Accomplishing goals, the three ways of learning. Hearing it, there’s a new way of learning. It’s the six strategies to conquer any challenge in life. Understanding it, studying those six ways and studying them so well that being able to teach a class on it. I have a class and a book. And making it instinctual. All of these goals of what I have to do today are on my board. My to-do board. Instinctual. I have studied how to accomplish goals and be the most efficient that I can be that I’m able to accomplish things that other people would only think impossible.
And the only way I’ve been able to do that is because, first, I learned a new way and learned a new term, new idea. The second one, I studied it so much. And I implemented it so well into my life that I was able to teach it. And then after I taught it, it became instinctual to where I’m able to accomplish things that no one else would even think possible. But I can do it, no problem. Because I have understood how to break down problems to the most minute portions, and accomplish itty-bitty tasks at a rapid pace, like a computer. Three ways of learning. First, you grasp the new concept. Then you have to study that concept so much that you can teach it in your sleep. And then after you’ve learned it that well, then it becomes instinctual.
No Matter The Approach To Capturing Your Value, The Fundamentals Do Not Change
Mother Teresa vowed to be impoverished her entire life, but still understood how to capture her value. Over time, she developed the skills to promote her agenda in a non-manipulative way. Now let’s talk about that. No matter the approach to capturing your value, the fundamentals don’t change. Now, using Mother Teresa, because she was a very valuable person. We Still talk about her today. I think she might’ve even made it to Saint-hood. Very valuable person, with no money. She was able to get people to donate and help with her cause by being a leader and showing it, and giving people that had no voice a voice, and being a mother. Mother Theresa, hence the word.
No matter your religious beliefs, each says to have. (So it doesn’t matter if you’re Christian, it doesn’t matter if you’re Buddhist, it doesn’t matter if you’re Muslim, it doesn’t matter if you’re Baha’i. It doesn’t matter if you’re Rasta.) Every one of them has the same basic fundamentals, which is faith, trust, and action. Have faith in something that you do not see. Trust that if you do the right thing, the right thing will happen. If you put the right in, the right will come back out. And trust that if you put the right action in, the right action will come out. So the fundamentals of that do not change.
Fundamentally, if you are lazy, then you’re going to have a lazy life. Fundamentally. If you get up every day and try to accomplish new goals, then you’re going to have a better life. And what is that? Faith. Having faith that if you work hard and you do the necessary things, working hard doesn’t necessarily get you what you need to do, because working hard and also studying. Remember the three ways of learning. So you have to consistently capture your value, and consistently learn the three ways of learning so you see another way to capture value, a new way of doing things. You’ve got to study it and make it instinctual. Same thing with this. You gotta have faith in something that you don’t see. Trust it. Trust it enough that you’re going to put action behind it and go for it.
Most people live in financial scarcity because they lack the correct vehicle to get paid and capture the value they desire
Remember, we live in a specialized world. You can’t do everything. You need units of exchange, could be money, time, experience, labor. You have to have value. In order to obtain any units of exchange, you have to bring value. You have to have the ability to persuade your customers to take money from their bank and add it to your bank. Capturing value. So with that, we live in a specialized world. So again, you can’t capture all the value in the world. You can only capture what you’re good at. You can capture your value. What is your value? What can you offer to the world? Not what the world can give you, what can you offer to the world? The more that you offer, the more value you create. The more value you create, the more money you will receive. Or if you’re not looking for money, like Mother Teresa, the more value you create, the more help you are able to provide. So you need more units of exchange.
If you do not have very much money to assist you on capturing your value, well then, your value might be time, trading your time for units of capital. But during that, you better increase your value. So, if you want to exchange your time for units of money, then you need to constantly increase your value so that your time becomes more valuable, and you become more valuable. If you want to do it through experience, well, that’s through working more and more in something and becoming more specialized in whatever it is that you do. Now, you have to have value. I’m not going to hire anyone that doesn’t have value.
And I’ve tried to go over this. I made a couple of videos. And I showed the dollar example where I showed a dollar in whole. And yes, it has value. It’s worth a dollar. But if you rip that dollar up, it’s no longer valuable. So in order for you to capture your value, you have to remember that example, if you do not capture and do not withhold your value, what is rule number one? It’s don’t lose value. So don’t rip yourself up, like I ripped up a dollar in a different video, and tried to explain how, in the beginning, it had value. In the end, it had no value.
So be very careful with yourself and don’t lose value. But more importantly, always figure out how to increase your value. And you have to have the ability to persuade people because you have to understand, it’s almost like a zero sum game. It’s not as vicious as the stock market zero sum game, but one person is taking something out of their pocket to give it into yours. So whatever value you’re giving, or whatever it is that you are doing, keep that in mind that you have to provide something that creates enough value for other people to take money from their coffers and put it into yours.
The rules to value
It has to be true value. We all think we can sing in the shower, but can you actually win a Grammy? Now, let me think about that one for just a second. We’ve been talking about it this entire chapter, about you have to find what you’re good at. What can you give to the world? You have to be blatantly honest with yourself. You have to be blatantly honest, because if you’re not honest with yourself, you’re going to go down the wrong hole and you’re going to be trying to provide value to the world, but you’re just not able to, because nobody wants the value that you’re trying to give. It’s just not valuable. It’s just not valuable.
No matter how many pennies I collect, at the end of the day, it’s still just a penny. If you have not worked on increasing your value from a penny to a nickel, from a nickel to a dime, from a dime to a quarter, to a quarter to a dollar, then you can’t get frustrated if all you’re worth is that penny. But do not think, as being a penny, that you are bringing the truest value. You have to be really good. You got to be a dollar at whatever you do. The world will consistently test you. Just because you were valuable yesterday does not mean you carry the same value today. So that goes with, what is rule number one? Do not lose value. The most important thing of all this is, do not lose value, and the three ways of learning.
So you have to consistently search out ways to increase your personal value and then step in the three ways of learning. Learn a new idea, learn a new concept, get so good at it that you can teach it, and then make it instinctual, rare and in demand. Now this is the most important part about value. These are the key rules of value. Rare and in demand. The value you bring has to be in demand, but also has to be rare. Flipping burgers is very high in demand, but it’s not very rare. So it doesn’t expect lots of money. Does that make sense?
So just because something that you’re doing is in high demand doesn’t mean that it’s creating very much value. And I do not want to downgrade anyone when I say this. Like the nursing industry, it is in high demand, but you’re only going to make so much. It’s not rare. It’s just in high demand. Flipping burgers is the easiest one because it’s easy to look down on people that flip burgers. But even a lawyer, they’re in high demand, but they’re also not very rare. So they’re maxed out at what they’re at. Look at a doctor, the more specialized you become, the rarer you become, and the more you’re worth. But again, you’re only tapped out a certain amount.
Now let’s look at Michael Jordan. He was very rare in his talents. And there was also a huge demand to watch him. So how much value did he create? There was such a huge demand for his greatness that he created a shoe. And to this day, that shoe, 20 years after he ever touched a basketball professionally, still sells. So Michael Jordan was able to create value. He was able to know what he was good at and capture the most amount of value that he was able to. Does that make sense? So he was rare in his talents and his ability. His talents were so rare that they were extremely in demand. And at the time, he demanded the highest paid contract. Now that’s like pennies on the dollar. But then, it was a huge amount of money. Rare and in demand. All right. Onto the next chapter.