One of the keys to success is to know how to add value. Whether you are adding value to a team, a project or a situation you must know yourself and your abilities to add the maximum value.
Keys To Success: A Story About Value
I was reading a story the other day about a high school basketball team. It reminded me of when I played high school basketball because my coach, Coach Lasko, did something similar.
When you have a group of competitive teenage boys who all think they are great players how do you get them to accept that they may have to play a position other than what they think they are good at. It was quite normal for our forwards and centers to think that they had the ball handling abilities to play point guard. Invariably when they tried to do this they would turn the ball over.
One day in practice, Coach Lasko changed the normal scrimmage between the first and second teams. The first team normally beat the second team soundly. This day, he had the first team members switch positions. The point guard played center. One of the forwards played shooting guard. The center played point guard. Then the first team went out and scrimmaged the second team. The game was to 20. The second team, of which I was a member, trounced the first team.
It was no contest. From that day forward no one questioned where the coach had them playing.
Keys To Success: Know Your Value
One of the greatest challenges for individuals, self-employed business owners, entrepreneurs and solo professionals is to understand the concept of value, and more importantly, how to add it to our lives and businesses. We can go out everyday and recognize talent. People are loaded with talent. Yet the ones who truly experience personal, business or small business success are the ones who apply their value in areas where it will be recognized or appreciated.
One of the keys to successfully running a small business or your life is to know yourself and your abilities? It is critical. Think about this. If you are seven feet tall and weigh 300 pounds you will never be a jockey. Yet, throughout my years of personal business coaching I have collaborated with many people who had great abilities but who were either not using them or applying them where they would not have maximum benefit.
When I ask most people how they add value they can readily tell me. That is good. When I ask them if they feel their present circumstances or situation is allowing them to add value, very often, I receive a different answer.
They tell me they wish they could be doing things differently to utilize their value. There is very little satisfaction in doing something well and yet, we don’t feel like we are adding value or are valuable. Step one in adding value is to know your value and to position yourself to use it.
Keys To Success: Understanding Your Value
Once you know how you add value the next step is to understand your value. You may say, wait a minute, aren’t knowing your value and adding your value the same? Here’s the difference.
Understanding your value is about figuring out how your value can fit into a particular situation. Too often we arrive at a situation or challenge with our skills and abilities, our value, yet we don’t know how to apply it, or even if we should to add value.
Keys To Success: Applying Your Value
Once you know your value and understand it there is one more step. Knowing your value is great. Understanding it and how best to apply it is even better. But, the ultimate achievement is to apply it. Without application of our value we can feel unfulfilled.
Whether it be in your business or life, put yourself in a position to succeed. One of the most important keys to success is to position yourself to add value and in the process enhance your work and life and benefit others.
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