Strive not to be a success but to be of value – Albert Einstein
Going Past The Recipe
“Deconstruct the cool things you see. When something fascinates you, pay attention to the details. The person who thinks, “That was cool,” is a consumer. The person who thinks, “How did they make something that cool?” is on the path to being a creator. Don’t just taste the recipe, look for the ingredients.”
These words by bestselling author James Clear serve as a reminder that what separates consumers and creators is the questions they ask. The consumer feeds while the creator inquires. This thin line keeps consumers locked in to what they can get from a thing while the creators consistently ask, “How can I add or give value?”
A Shift In Question
Shift to asking “how can I add or give value” has all the ingredients to raise your quality of life from simply consuming to creating and thereby contributing. Your creativity level in life is directly tied to how best you answer the value question. What we do in obscurity is a measurement of the greatness we experience.
Your creativity level in life is directly tied to how best you answer the value question.
Consumers versus Contributors
While consumers get satisfaction from what they withdraw, a contributor draws satisfaction from what they put in. They know an investment is a prerequisite to withdrawal. Most people live beneath the quality of life they are capable of because they never make the switch to adding value to others. Their lives become a revolving door of activities that gratify on the surface but never bring profound rewards.
From Wow to How
Making the value switch begins by asking the value question. It starts when you start hunting for ingredients, not just a recipe. Many people want the recipe to succeed, but don’t really want to look for the ingredients that make up the recipe. Like a cook must go to different locations to find ingredients to cook a great meal, one must search for the details that make a great life. It’s a detailed process that impatient people cannot engage in. Not only do the ingredients need to be procured, but they need to be prepared. This year, become an ingredient seeker; after you say “wow” to what you see, follow up with “how?” “How” motivates you to dig deeper.
Fig 1: Shows the value shift we need to make this year
Why The “How” Matters
Sustained success in life is a product of what happens behind the scenes. According to the Harvard Business Review, asking questions is a uniquely powerful tool for unlocking value. Like a shovel used to dig for buried treasure, questions help us unlock the hidden treasure of ideas, push us past our limits, and even help us avoid pitfalls and hazards by uncovering them. Questions reveal ingredients that contribute to being a person of value.
This Month
Aside from asking the value question, this month will feature four other questions to stir our minds to think in terms of ingredients, not just recipes:
The Value Question (today’s post)
The Preparation Question (January 22nd)
The Vision Question (January 29th)
Final Thought: This year, make an effort to go behind the scenes of things you see that make you go “wow” and ask “how.” Draw back the curtain with this shift in thinking. You will unlock a desire for learning and the impetus to go beyond being a consumer and into the depths of being a contributor. Start asking, “How can I add value?”
Keep on keeping on!
Notes
Discover Your Treasure 