Thursday, December 31, 2009

Create Powerful Results in 2010—Tap into the Theme for the Year

The theme or focus for this next year became clear over the last few months. As I’ve delved into research on how to market and do business in different ways for the upcoming, critical 18-24 months, this concept and change presented over and over. It’s revealed itself in conversations about personal development, business success, and how the world is changing.

So while you’re setting your intentions and creating your plans for the coming year, you can increase the effectiveness of everything you do by tapping into this powerful theme.

How do you do this? Start by asking yourself what is the difference, to you on a personal level, between cost and value?

We have been socialized, raised, and trained for a cost-oriented world and mindset in most developed countries. And most of us are weary of this process, the orientation to evaluate everything on a cost basis.

So what’s the difference? The measure and process of cost is all about the scales. Is the amount of money spent in balance with what one receives as a result of the investment? Does the energy expended justify the results (or the reverse)? And here lies the fatal flaw: every exchange is evaluated on the basis of what comes in and goes out. This conflicts with the idea that people, services, or raw materials have an inherent value.

Perhaps the best example of this comes out of the current effort to translate the concepts of Buddhist Economics into practices that are not tied to any given dogma. One of the problems in our global economy and recovery is that we do not have a value for raw materials, specifically for those non-renewable resources.

Business can tell you to the penny what it costs to obtain those resources (mine, refine, cut, shred, etc.). And no one has effectively assigned a value to the raw existence of the resources. This means we have no idea about the value of is lost or consumed by removing them from their current state. So we’ve got an economy that revolves around the process of consumption and gives no credence to the value of something existing before it’s consumed.

Now you may be wondering how the heck that has anything to do with how you do business and plan for 2010. Let me make the connection—it’s essential for your survival in the market in 2010 and beyond.

This cost-analysis reality has seeped into education, family values, social structures, and even religion in the developed world. We have completely lost track of the essential value of virtually everything.

Is any human being actually a renewable resource? Absolutely NOT! Every individual is unique—even identical twins are not 100% identical in their lives and selfhood. So the disconnect is the need to experience individual value of self apart from any other measurement.

What is a single human life worth?

What is the potential of any single individual worth on its own and to the entire spectrum of humanity?

And what is the worth, the value, of your inherent gifts and your commitment to bring them to rest of humanity?

The measurement of cost is breaking down. How quickly each person connects with individual value and the value of what we have to offer is the keystone to succeeding in the immediate future. You have heard that “People don’t care what you know until they know how much you care.” Knowledge as a benchmark is another way to calculate cost. While it’s true that people need to know you care, what’s even more essential is YOU need to KNOW WHY you care and what you care about. THAT is how you establish value.

"Value Added" has been a sales concept for a long time. The idea of adding value to close the sale, to get the customer is just a regular thing that is done in business. It's time to realize that this is really the cart pulling the horse. Instead of adding value: BE value!

You cannot create more value than you experience for yourself. (Others can create incredible value based on what you offer, but your experience of satisfaction and service is directly related to your own perception of your value and the value of what you do.)

So if you want your goals and plans to be incredibly effective in 2010, determine what you value and why—and make experiencing that reality a daily priority for your success and service.

Have a blessed New Year. With all my heart I wish you Fulfilled Success for 2010.

Heidi Sue Roth

2 comments:

  1. Heidi,
    I love you! This is so profound. A number of years ago I was doing training on "rights" of seniors. I was challenged in an Indian community to think in terms of responsibilities rather than rights. I believe this is parallel to cost and value. Rights is an individual concept that does not weave someone with their community and wider world whereas responsibility creates a strong web of relationships. You don't do that unless you know what your value is.
    www.trueselfinc.com

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  2. Constance,
    That's a great layer to add to the idea. Very true! In so many ways we turned "rights" into the military equal of a defensible position: the need to define and defend personal territory. Responsibility is a much more powerful position and concept.

    You'rve reality highlighted something important: the term rights as it's most commonly used is really a scarcity concept. There's only so much room, so many categories so we much each carve out something that "belongs" to each of us.

    Responsibility is much more inclusive and includes the ability to choose. Thank you for sharing this! I look forward to (hopefully) sharing the entire group of ideas with you at one of the upcoming events.

    Welcome to an amazing New Year!

    Heidi Sue

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