The Secret to Getting More

Earl Nightingale, the famous television commentator and founder of Nightingale-Conant Company, tells a story about a man looking for a job and saying “I want someone to give me a job.”

His analogy for this mindset is someone who sits in front of the fireplace and asks that it bring forth heat when they haven’t given it any fuel. This is the same way most Americans operate in the job market. We want to get an increased reward WITHOUT increasing our service.

The question is not “Will someone give me a job?” or “How do I go from making $25,000 a year to $50,000 a year?” The question should be “How can I add value?”

Thinking for a change

What is the secret to success at work? Simple. Start asking yourself,

“What am I gifted to do that other people need?”

and

“What services can I offer people that will offer them great value?”

If we would just sit down and think about it—- just think ——we could probably come up with many alternatives to how we can better serve and therefore make a living and a career by providing for others’ needs while also doing work we love.

The point being :

People are only going to pay for what services are delivered.

So, as we look back at “I want to increase salary” or “I want someone to give me more money” we should be asking

“How can I offer more service?”