Value in the Mirror

“In business, the competition will bite you if you keep running; if you stand still, they will swallow you.” – William Knudsen

There are times when I feel like I’m being swallowed whole. I probably don’t taste very good, which is why they don’t bother chewing me up.

Regardless of how hard I work or how good I am, there is always someone else who works harder or is simply better than me. When I was younger, this used to be the kick in the pants I needed to work harder and smarter than everyone else. But now I’m older, so it doesn’t bother me so much anymore.

Over the years I have learned that it’s impossible to sustain the kind of activity that keeps you ahead of the ever growing competition. There will always be some new up-and-comer who has no real life of their own and is willing to work for peanuts for the chance to get ahead of the pack. That’s why corporations love to hire the young and send the old into early retirement.

It’s not that I’ve become some lazy old fart. Au contraire. I like to think I’ve become a much wiser and more efficient old fart.

Success is how you define it, so it’s of vital importance to get your definition right. The last thing I want is to end up wealthy in terms of some highly inflated fiat currency and poor in the things that last forever. Being rich and miserable doesn’t have the same appeal now as it did when I was younger and thought that riches were the answer to misery.

No, there must be a balance between working for things and working for yourself. You may be thinking that as an entrepreneur you are working for yourself, which is true in one sense, but is bit of a misnomer in another. As you work your busy day building your future security, be sure to invest a little time in building You.

In the end, what you bring to the mirror has a lot more value than what you bring to the table. And you’ll have to live with that person in the mirror long after you finish building your business.