Many people want to go to the proverbial next level.
In a lot of cases when people say this, it’s a catch phrase without much true meaning other than they would like to be doing better. In others, the thought is that growth will happen automatically, like a stock in a mutual fund, that if we just hang in there, growth will magically appear over time.
In my experience, this doesn’t happen often. How many people do you know who have been in the same place they were in 1o, 15 maybe even 20 years ago? Quite a few. The cost of living raise can’t even keep pace with the cost of living.
What I am suggesting is proactive, purposeful people do better over time. They move forward with resolve, they create value for themselves. What other people would run away from, you run toward it. Creating value sounds good and impressive, doesn’t it? Sure it does.
The fact is, though, creating value costs the creator something. That’s because every place you want to go has a price associated with it. If you want to be promoted, there’s a price to pay. If you want a better life, there’s a price to pay. Every place has a price. Every value to be created must be paid for. Someone has to pay for it. Contrary to our government’s prevailing attitude, it doesn’t just appear out of thin air. Typically when a person is overly rewarded with anything they didn’t pay for, abuse and downward trajectory happens rather than upward.
How many tragic stories have you heard about lottery winners? One person in New Jersey won the lottery twice, only to go bust both times. Family breakups and fights typically occur in these situations because you should share your winnings with people because, after all, you didn’t work for it!
Every place to want to aspire to has a price associated with it, some may include but are not limited to:
It may not be possible for everyone to be your friend
You may be required to develop relationships with people way different than you
You may not be able to hang out with the same people you have been hanging out with
You may need to distance yourself from some people and draw closer to others
You may have to study…hard
You may have to change habits
You may have to spend less and save more
You may have to work longer hours
You may feel stupid for a while
You may be really, really uncomfortable
You may have to speed up a lot
You may have to slow down a lot
You may have to follow up more
You may have to trust more
You may have to manage less
You may have to lead more
You may have to start working out
You may have to adjust to unforseen weaknesses
You may have sudden tragedy
You may be suddenly have incredible fortunate circumstance which require much thought and planning
You may have to plan more
You may need to plan less
You may need to read more and act less
You may need to act more and read less
You may need to stop procrastinating
You may need to stop being defensive
You may need to risk more
You may need to risk less
You may need to open up and talk more
You may need to rein yourself in and talk less
Plus any number of a thousand other things. In my work, I’ve seen many more than this.
You must do enough visioning to figure out what the next level looks like, get clarity. Then, you must do enough self analysis to determine WHY you want to go to the new place. Your WHY must be a strong driver through the change prices you must pay. Your intention has to be big enough to push through the pain of change required. Many a person took a situation for more money, only to be unhappy soon after.
My point to you today is we all have constraints and barriers to going to the next level or the place where we want to be. Creating value doesn’t just appear, it must be paid for by someone because every place you aspire to has a corresponding price.
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