You might spend time thinking about your own net worth. It is how business people tend to judge their success. But how are you judging your self worth? Has your self worth built a “life worth” that can be recognized by everyone around you?
Self worth is a necessary ingredient in “life worth.” As business leaders, we have to start thinking about “life worth” and understand that we can have a substantial impact on any world issue or local issue. We should all start working with young people now to make sure they have the confidence and self worth to make a difference in the world, to create their own “life worth.” If we are conscious of our actions, we can have an impact on the lives of those around us.
This week I met with a prominent businessman. His vacation home was incredible, with unbelievable views. He had obviously made a lot of money and was enjoying it. But as the meeting went on, he made some demeaning comments about people, race, and gender. Suddenly, I felt like I needed a shower. I looked around at this lovely house, and its beauty was gone for me. All I saw was the excess of excess.
At that point, the meeting was over for me. I knew this is not someone I wanted to do business with or even be associated with. His vibe was not entering my tribe! I didn’t end the meeting abruptly, just told him that I had to leave in about 20 minutes.
During that 20 minutes, I started imagining what googling this guy would look like. In my head, I started recapping what I knew of his career, then it finally hit me square in the head–– I never want to be this guy, I want to be the opposite of this guy. Yep! The “no jerks policy” worked again.
I finally said good-bye and got into my car… Oh, myyy! I immediately thought about the fact that I want to have “life worth,” not just net worth. As I drove, I pondered, “How have I contributed to the lives of others? How have I improved their quality of life?” The 20 minutes I spent trying to excuse myself from this meeting turned into a head-spinning exercise of self-analysis on what’s really important to me.
Thinking about this further, especially about friends who have retired, I started to wonder why those who retire think they’re done contributing to the world. That metric is no different than only thinking about your net worth: You have accrued enough money to live on without working. But again, that is a monetary metric. You are not done! There is so much work that needs to be done that far exceeds anything you did to raise your nest egg to retire on. You can still contribute, have impact and change lives. The experience you bring to problem solving is valuable and even necessary.
We all need to begin to pay attention everyday to everything around us that we can positively impact. Think about the virtues of self worth and “life worth” versus net worth, a simple calculation of assets and liabilities.
5 Things To Remember: Net Worth vs “Life Worth”
- You are unique and have unique abilities that the world needs.
- Live with integrity and honesty
- Live courageously
- Look for issues and causes to help (open links below and see what resonates)
- Understand we all have weaknesses and put them up front and they will not impede you
Anyone can live in the status quo, but you are extraordinary and incredible! So if you are living in the status quo, break out, make a change and realize that you can do so much more.
If you start living this way today, your self worth will lead to a positive “life worth” that will be much more important to everyone than your net worth ever could be. You can have an impact on the world and create change for the better, then your “life worth” will be HUGE!
Life on––
AZ
