Quality and Contribution (Blog)

[Andrew Brunelle]

I really enjoyed this blog entry. I was away on vacation for about a week and I just got back and thought, "I need to catch up on the Pavlina articles!" So I read the three you posted in the last week and I am very impressed with all three of them and it is a great new line of thinking I had previously ignored. Sometimes I did look at people who spent what I considered an excess amount of money on something as a bad person or an extravagent spender, but now I do realize that if you disdain these people, if you loathe the very core of rich people who generate value, then you will never become someone like that.

To think, "Wow, isn't it great those people contribute so much value they can afford the highest quality things?" would not be something I would have thought a year ago, but now my thinking is changing rapidly and I have you to thank for that, Steve. I'm so glad I stumbled upon your site two years ago. Thanks for everything.
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One thing I would like to comment on is that I like how Steve advocates buying higher quality things in lieu of the cheap crap that will only last a short time. It is worth it for yourself and the environment. So many people think short-term and never look into the long-term. Sure, it's cheaper now, but if it only lasts 1/3 of the amount of time as something that costs twice as much, it is better to buy the more expensive product. This is something to look at for sustainability. I read a few of the posts here and some people seem to be mad that people spend money that could easily go to starving children, rather than a hotel room. That is true, but if you remember that famous "teach a man to fish" quote, where if you give people something, it will last a short time, but if you teach people how to get the something themselves, they will have that skill for a lifetime. What Steve does is help people reach their dreams, and it is so much better than donating money, he donates his whole life, or the bulk of it, to helping people get where he is today, and where he is headed as well. If he wants to pay extra for a hotel room, his contributions warrant that sort of expense.

[Nikos Sokin]

Steve,

What if I balk at high work-related travel expenses because I'm conscious that I'm spending tax dollars? Business airtickets are so expensive, so I have made it a point to ask our travel person to find ways of shaving off cost. Are you saying this also is misguided?

Nikos

[Dan.Linehan]

Originally Posted by Nikos Sokin

Steve,

What if I balk at high work-related travel expenses because I'm conscious that I'm spending tax dollars? Business airtickets are so expensive, so I have made it a point to ask our travel person to find ways of shaving off cost. Are you saying this also is misguided?

Nikos

Does your career contribute to ending suffering?

[smartile]

Hi Steve - the one thing I could never figure out is why some people are just happy enough to stay home and smoke weed all day. I can't see how that would really be fullfilling but people swear by it, especially up here in CANuck country - Canada.

Excuse the sidebar, what I really would like to acknowledge and contribute is that in order to live in our higher self it's a requirement to ask yourself bigger questions and think bigger things. I think a change in mindset and an adoption of a greater vision would get people thinking about contribution beyond themselves.

Cheers,

Stephen Martile — Personal Development with NLP

[Shamou]

Originally Posted by InterfaceLeader
Shamou -
I think seeing people in private planes and bringing twenty seven suits with them (why? Seriously o.o) wouldn't motivate me to do jack.

Let me you in on a little secret… if you are not competitive you’ll never amount to “jack” to use your own term…

If you can let people get ahead of you… achieve more, do more and have more then you do with complacency… you will also amount to jack…

Winners and successful people are in the game… and they are in the game to win…

If I see someone who does more, has more and contribute more than I… I will be very happy for that person… but at the same time, it will spur me on to outdo myself and take the lead again…

If there is no fire and no passion… don’t expect much results… I am not saying that everyone wants or should go for the brass ring… but, anyone who aspires to reach it should at least know the ABC of the game…
.

[Shamou]

Originally Posted by Love

You know, for all Tony Robbins says about changing your mentality and getting what you want, I don't think I've ever read anything of his that mentioned being nice or giving common decency.

Maybe this excerpt can open your eyes a little... (from here)

"Robbins was one of the founding strategists in the creation of the Presidential Summit for America’s Promise, in which systems were designed that helped generate over 2 million mentors for young people throughout the United States.

Four Presidents and Secretary of State, Colin Powell, partnered in the process. Today, The Anthony Robbins Foundation is one of the world’s foremost authorities on leadership principles, truly shaping today’s youths into tomorrow’s powerhouse of adults with activism and determination!

The Anthony Robbins Foundation was created in 1991, with the belief system that regardless of stature, only those who have learned the power of sincere and selfless contribution experience life’s deepest joy; true fulfillment. The Foundation has products and programs in more than 2,000 schools, 700 prisons, and 100,000 health and human service organizations.

What began more than 30 years ago as Tony's individual effort to feed families in need, has now grown into the Anthony Robbins Foundation's International Basket Brigade, providing baskets of food and household items for more than 2 million people in 74 countries annually. Throughout the Thanksgiving and holiday season International Basket Brigade volunteers deliver food, clothing, and hope to those who need it most."
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[InterfaceLeader]

Originally Posted by Shamou

Let me you in on a little secret… if you are not competitive you’ll never amount to “jack” to use your own term…

If you can let people get ahead of you… achieve more, do more and have more then you do with complacency… you will also amount to jack…

Winners and successful people are in the game… and they are in the game to win…

I'm in the game to change the world, not to own it.

(Awww, that was much too slick).

If you don't see money as being the way of 'winning', but you see - maybe - fame being the end result, with your words reaching out to millions, or you see building and maintaining your own society outside of the mainstream (commune style) then no, jet planes and suit jackets are meaningless at motivating you.

I am full of fire and passion, and I'm VERY competitive - but what motivates me is not the prospect of owning tons more than I need, but the idea of genuinely making a change in the structure of society. And you CAN make that change without money. I need enough money to live on, which I do, and I would like enough money that I could be comfortable, which I almost have,

Money is the reward you get for playing the game by societies rules. If you believe that societies rules are intrinsically unfair, you don't want the reward it creates.

I believe in abundance: abundance of time, abundance of love and family, abundance of good experiences. I have a very clear idea of who and what I want to be in the next year and onwards. However, owning a jetplane would be so utterly meaningless for me, it would not bring me one iota of happiness, and happiness is what we're all actually after. We just believe that happiness and wealth equate (which is more true of America than elsewhere, since everything from your health to your education is tied up in how wealthy you are). However, they do not truly equate, many billionaires are deeply unhappy, and many middlestream people are very happy. It is quite likely that the underpaid teacher gets more joy from her day-to-day than a billionaire does sipping champagne in an empty mansion. To call this "the exception that proves the rule" is untrue, exceptions do not 'prove' rules, they test them, which is the original meaning of the phrase.

What I strive for constantly is time: time to spend doing the things I want to do with people I like being with. That requires either money or a certain level of self-sustainability. Since I don't like living off other people's work, I am making the more towards self-sustainability.

Being rich is one way of being happy, but is not the only way, or even the most definite way. Being rich would not make me happy, but there are many many things in this world that do make me happy ;D

[Nikos Sokin]

Why yes. I work in international health.