The creation of value is a pretty topic. Value is a lot like beauty…it’s in the eye of the beholder.
I might think Twitter holds tremendous value, while you may not give a flippin’ tweet about it.
That’s fine… While we may not always agree as to what is valuable, there are absolute ways to NOT create value. Trust me. If you do these five things, you’ll be the antithesis of a value creator.
#1: Watch A Whole Lot Of TV:
We all like to be entertained. Sometimes work, school, kids and bills are so pressure-inducing that escaping to the world of #House, or #TheOffice, can be good for you (and everyone around you). But, we’re talking about CREATING value. When you’re consuming another person’s creation, without modifying it, you have no way of creating value.
#2: Have A Bunch Of Ideas and Zero Action:
Everyone likes the dopamine rush that comes from a new idea. And, when we have those ideas, we can’t wait to rush off and…talk about it. Being as fun as it is, talking about it just doesn’t carry as much weight as actually DOING something about it. And, just talking about something can be counter-value-creating. When you’re just talking about it, you’re wasting the time of the listener.
#3: Criticize Other People’s Attempts:
Words carry a lot of weight. And when you criticize, gossip or laugh at someone’s attempt to create value, you are spreading poison. You have released an idea-hitman into the streets. To an entrepreneur, you are a terrorist and your words have just become IEDs.
#4: Always Be Fearful:
Attempting something new is always scary. A sure-fire way of keeping new value at bay is to listen to your fear. Fear is a seductive emotion. Pay too much attention to it and it will lure you into intelligent paralysis. You’ll end up sitting on your butt, bragging about how smart you are.
#5: Give It One-Half Your Effort:
A great way to put a big stop on any type of value is to give less than 100%. People who create things get there by busting it. If you’re one of those people who won’t put all your effort into what you’re doing, you’re not going to produce value. Worse… You’ll probably produce a wake of half-complete jobs and a life of regret.
When you want to live a life of value-non-producing, do these things. They are 100% guaranteed to work. You will not get any closer to producing value, opportunity or innovations. If you can think of other ways to not produce value, let me know on twitter.
