Add Value

Team AOJ,

What a great major convention in Milwaukee!  I took tons of notes, and one of the biggest nuggets came from Dan Hawkins and his promotion of the top 5 books.  He stated that he has read each of them 5 times before finding success, and it started me to thinking about my progression through those books.  Right before the major I started reading The Magic of Thinking Big, and it’s like I never read it before.  One of the ideas that struck me was on page 89, when we are encouraged to practice adding value!

So many people look at life as a fixed stated of  circumstances and they live their lives as if they are stuck with the hand that they have been dealt.  I was speaking to a young lady the other night, and she had such big dreams of teaching and sharing her gifts in ministering to other young women.  Her desire to help and serve others brought a smile to my face as I saw her light up when she shared her dreams.  But no sooner than she was finished painting her life’s masterpiece in her mind, she began to rationalize and logic her way out of making a change.  We as created beings have been blessed by God with the ability to add value to things, others and ourselves.  Let me give you some examples…

Many of us have been blessed with an income from a job today.  I understand that some incomes may be less that others, but most of us have an income.  Money is a thing, an item that has value, so how do we add value to money.  A big thinker will say how can I learn to make my money multiply?  How can I get more out of the little that I have?  The book, “God’s Plan for your Finances“, is and excellent resource for those seeking to add value to their money.  It just takes new information and effort. What if we bought a new shirt for $25?  Did that purchase add value to our money? What if I bought the “Maximize your Finances Pack”, and implemented its principles in order to get out of debt?  Surely everyone can see that by using our money as an investment towards good information we can add value to each penny we spend.  So what about the shirt that you need? Maybe as opposed to buying a new shirt, you take you old shirt to the cleaners and bring it back to life? Maybe you can go to a second hand store and purchase a shirt for $2?  The leader will focus on adding value to things, as opposed to adding things that have no value. 

Often people will use the excuse that they cannot make any significant changes in heir lives because they have cannot find any good, honest, hardworking, and trustworthy associates.  I am always amazed when people place themselves on such a lofty post.  We take for granted that we have always been good, honest, hardworking and trustworthy. Most likely we have grown ourselves personally to a level of goodness, morality, and persistence.  And most likely, God is encouraging your mentor and coach not to see you as you are, but to see you as you can be.  We are all called to add value to others in all areas.  Leaders are in the people development business, and we should always ask ourselves what are we doing to add value to others.  To be the best, we have to develop others to be better.


Finally, we all need to practice adding value to ourselves.  This is the toughest job of all. One of the greatest tools of the enemy is to convince you and I that we are worthless. Nothing that God has created is worthless!  We may have been beaten up by life, and we often experience valley’s of despair, but as long as there is a smidgen of hope, there is value and an opportunity to add value to ourselves.  The human mind can do miraculous things when given a picture. I once read a quote that said “people rarely see life as it is, we see life as we are.” If life to you has become boring, hopeless, and mundane, then most likely that is how you see yourself.  If people cannot be trusted, and they always let you down, then most likely, you do not trust yourself, and often let yourself down.  So how do we change that thinking?  How we learn to add value to ourselves? The brain works on pictures, and in order to change the mind it requires a new picture as input.  Start seeing yourself in a different light and you will feel, think and move down a different path. We add value to ourselves by visualizing what can be, acknowledging what is, and forgetting what has been. 

Adding value to things, others and ourselves will take the lid off of any thing, person and dream.  See what can be, not what is! God Bless!