It’s about Selling your Goods
THE THING
Here’s the Thing! Real Men sell their goods. Real Men do what they are good at doing and they spend most of their lives getting good at what they do. So, what are you “good” at, what are your goods?
When you find your “goods”, the things that you do well (good), you will make a fantastic living by sharing them with others. Real Men also sell only good products. They cannot sell inferior or substandard products or services because they know that they are not good enough. They have to believe in the quality and the standard of the actual products they sell. Products must be very good or better than others.
Too many people work in companies doing stuff they are not good at, and because of this they spend most of the time hating what they do. The result of this is a world of poor service and faulty products. Real Men find out what they are good at, which is generally something they enjoy doing, and they try a career that allows them to sell and market their goods. I hope you get the play on words here? When you join your goods to good products or services - you live a good life.
THE REWARD
When you sell your “goods” you basically wake up every morning being yourself.
When you sell your goods, you really don’t call it work, you just do what you do well, wherever you find yourself.
When you work with what you are good at, people will find you.
The greatest gift you can give anyone is your goods.
THE HOW TO
- Ask yourself what you are good at and then steer your career in that direction.
- If for some reason you don’t know what you are good at, ask someone else who knows you. Tell them that you are on a self-development programme and you need to ask them a question.
“When you think about me or you hear my name what are my best attributes, personal or professional?” - The list you get from all the people you ask will generally create a pattern of words and you will find your good. You may be good with people, have an eye for detail, be a big picture thinker, analytical, hard-working, honest, loyal or any number of traits. These are your goods; these are your gifts; these are your differentiators that differentiate you from anyone else. Find out what they are and work on them to make them better.
- Keep improving on what you do well; keep improving your goods!
TROUBLE SHOOTING
- I don’t think I’m really good at anything, I’m more of a Jack-of-all-trades and good at none.
Then let that be your goods! You are a jack-of-all-trades, the go-to-guy in almost any situation because you know bits of everything and you are competent in most things. When they need an expert you can steer them in that direction, but you will be able to help everyone, everywhere almost every time. That’s a pretty good, good! Now spend more time perfecting one or two things that you do so that you can be a jack-of-all- trades and a master at SOME.
WISDOM
"A happy life is the one which is in accordance with its own nature." - Seneca
It’s Hard Work
THE THING
Here’s the Thing! If for some reason you haven’t seen, heard of, or watched Mike Rowe and his Dirty Jobs television programme, you have really missed out. Your homework is to watch as many of the programmes as you can, because it is required studying in order to be a Real Man. Basically, he’s an educated, well spoken, funny man who shows the world that hard work is an honourable and necessary thing, in order to make the civilized world possible. If you visit his Facebook page or his website, you will see and hear a man who has brought back the concept that hard work is noble.
For too long we have been sold on the concept that physical, hard work is somehow bad and inferior. We have designed our world to look down on people who work hard and we mock them by saying “work smart not hard!” And heaven help you if you don’t work in an air-conditioned office. Average men shun people who work hard, especially those who work hard with their hands, doing manual labour. Average men spend their days thinking of ways not only to get out of working hard, but of ways to get rich quick, with the least effort. Basically, average men are lazy. Real Men work hard.
Nothing truly remarkable has ever been achieved without hard work. Even intellectuals will tell you that most breakthroughs: scientific, mathematical, architectural or any other … al, have only been achieved through hard work. Einstein worked for years to prove his theory of relativity. Archimedes worked tirelessly to prove and perfect his theory that different objects displace liquid differently. Okay, so his major breakthrough did happen when he was in the bath, but even in the bath he was thinking and working on the problem.
Most scientific breakthroughs take years of effort, trial and error and simple hard work.
In a modern day society it really doesn’t matter what you do for a living. One fundamental truth will always remain: the harder you work, the bigger and better the results.
Just look around at your world and notice the amount of hard work and effort that was put into the building that you might be sitting in at the moment. Someone carried the bricks, mixed the concrete, drew the plans, dug the foundations, built the walls - brick by brick, plastered them, painted them, plumbed them, electrified them and on and on. Can you imagine the amount of hard work that went into this simple computer that I am writing this on?
Real Men understand hard work. Real Men don’t shirk from hard work, they embrace it, they look forward to it and see it as an everyday challenge. Whether the work is mental, physical or both; Real Men understand that working hard and achieving something, because of toiling and giving everything that you’ve got, is what life is about.
I swear I could write a book just on this subject, but for brevity sake let me just make a few points:
- Without work we have no way to provide for our families.
- Without work we have no way to test and stretch our abilities.
- Without work we are not able to perform and achieve and have something to be proud of.
THE REWARD
The ability to provide for your family.
Hard-work gives you purpose and pride in a job well done.
Hard work makes you a better person, who appreciates what you have, and grateful for the opportunity to showcase your skills.
Hard work and effort stretches you mentally and physically.
Hard work builds character and keeps you healthy.
Hard work and effort is the foundation for success and achievement.
THE HOW TO
- Change your mind immediately about the concept of hard work.
- If you live your life avoiding effort and hard work you cannot call yourself a Real Man and you will probably achieve nothing worthwhile.
- Raising children is hard work. It is a 21-year commitment and contract to behaving like an adult; to being accountable and responsible, to providing, to feeding, to fetching, to carrying, to dropping, to helping, to supporting, to caring, to sharing, to being on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 52 weeks of the year - for a minimum of 21 years. And it’s doing most of this when you don’t feel up to it, and when you could just as easily sit on your backside and watch TV, while drinking beer.
- Staying married is hard work. It’s all of the above plus mood swings, guilt trips, always being wrong, always having to say you’re sorry, cuddling and watching Grey’s Anatomy.
- Getting and staying employed is hard work. It’s getting and keeping the skills, applying for the job, being told what to do, working with unreasonable people, working with backstabbing, lazy people who take credit for your work, shoddy suppliers, ungrateful bosses, unhappy customers and waiting for someone to die before you get a promotion.
- Being an entrepreneur is hard work. It’s all of the above and having to kick your own arse every day.
- Dieting and staying healthy is hard work.
- Studying and learning new skills takes effort, patience and hard work. I hope you get the point, because it’s hard work typing the words hard work.
TROUBLE SHOOTING
- Yes, but shouldn’t you work smarter and not harder?
I am so glad that you are not standing in front of me right now; and that you emailed this question to me. In a modern day society, in a modern-day economy you have to work smart as well as hard in order for you to have any chance of success. People who tell you to work smarter, not harder, want you to buy their books or courses. They want to get rich while you sit and try to find a shortcut. That’s why they sell you books and courses on shortcuts.
WISDOM
"I believe that there is no such thing as a bad job. I believe that all jobs are opportunities and it’s up to me to make the best of them." - Mike Rowe