Wrapping up this series on mind shifts is a thought that comes from a comment Jim Rohn made in his "Challenge to Succeed" seminar. That comment is that life is not designed to give you what you need, it's designed to give you what you deserve. This is an extremely powerful statement. Falling into the opposite mindset of this is asking for disaster!
We live in a society where people are constantly talking and complaining that their needs are not being met, and that they don't have enough to live on. The "answer" is often in the form of increased social programs, increased minimum wage and all these other programs to try to make sure everyone has what they need. While I'm not saying there aren't some real issues that we need to address, there is one big philosophical error surrounding most of the arguments and the actions that are typically taken to resolve this. Life does not give you what you need; it's designed to give you what you deserve for the value you create. If you are only providing the minimum amount of value that you can, whether that's because you don't know how to provide more or because you just choose not to, you will be and should be compensated the minimum amount regardless of whether it's a sustainable amount to live on. The value you create to the marketplace does not have anything to do with the value you need to survive! Why would the market reward you more for providing less, simply because the "less" is not enough to meet what you feel are your "needs"? The marketplace rewards when value is provided, and according to the amount of value they feel was provided.
So if the market determines how much to compensate you based on the value you provide, what does that mean for you? Here's the positive side of the equation, and it gets exciting when you start making this shift in your philosophy. If life gives you what you deserve, there's a simple solution. Deserve more. How do you do that? By becoming more valuable and contributing more. Why is it that some people are making minimum wage at a fast food restaurant, while others are making millions working as CEOs of huge corporations? What about the customer service representative versus the surgeon? Is it because society is unfair? No! It's because they're delivering more value to deserve that difference in compensations. The value you create will be rewarded, and the market will tell you when you're providing something they see as valuable by increasing what you get. You want to increase the amount of what you get for the exchange for your time? Seek to become more valuable first and it will come.
You get to choose how much value you create! We don't need a $15/hour national minimum wage. Do you know why? As Rohn would say, "it's already on the ladder." You can already make that much! Nobody is stopping you from doing that. The key is you need to first figure out how to create enough value to deserve it. We don't need legislation to tell us that, and you can't legislate value creation. If you're goal is to stay at the bottom or your entire life, then maybe we do need an increase in minimum wage. But what kind of a life is that? Become more valuable and there are no limits. Forget $15 per hour. If you so choose, you can provide enough value to make $1000 per hour. Or more! That's the amazing thing about the time we live in and the opportunities before us. The only limits we have are those that we place on ourselves.
We as a society are stuck in this rut of thinking we should only provide as much value as we are paid for. I would agree with Jim Rohn and would argue that you should go out of your way to provide more value than you are paid for. Don't wait until you're compensated for the extra value; create the extra value first. Doing so will not only help you stand out as an exceptional employee or businessperson, but it will also increase your own skills and abilities, making you even more valuable. Lead with value, and provide it with the right intentions, and the rewards will follow.
We're all compensated for the amount of value we bring to the marketplace. Learn more skills, gain more knowledge, and you will become more valuable. As you do so and you provide that value, you will deserve more in exchange. If you choose not to, your value and therefore what you get in exchange will continue to be less than what it could. It's up to you to decide to increase your value, and you'll deserve the increased exchange you get for doing so. Don't give away your power by falling into a victim mindset. Better yourself, figure out where you can create value, and go out and increase the amount you deserve out of life. We're so fortunate to be in a position to be able to do that and you have literally no ceiling as to what you can do and what life can give you. All you have to do is go out there, increase your value, and make it happen for yourself.
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