Your Most Valuable Asset

One of your goals in life should be to earn as much as you possibly can from your work. Some people, with the same education and experience, earn far more than others. Why is that?

Here is the key question. What is your most valuable asset? In terms of cash flow, what is the most valuable thing you have? Well, unless you are very rich, or have a family trust account, your most valuable asset is your “earning ability.” It is your ability to earn money. It is your ability to apply your knowledge and skill in a timely fashion to get results for which others will pay.

All your education, knowledge, experience, reading, training, and work has contributed toward building up your earning ability. According to the research, the so-called “rich” in America, and in other countries, are almost invariably people who started from common beginnings, often with great disadvantages, and then overcame those circumstances by investing an enormous amount of time and effort on developing their earning ability. And you can do the same thing, starting today, or at any time you choose.

Management consultant Peter Drucker says that the truly educated person today is a person who has learned how to learn continuously throughout life. Tom Peters says that continuous learning may be the only real source of sustainable competitive advantage for individuals and corporations. And Peter Senge, who wrote The Fifth Dimension, says that only learning organizations, those organizations that are capable of taking in new information, adapting it, and using it faster than their competitors, will survive in the fast-changing, competitive world of tomorrow.

The more you know, the better you will be at solving problems and getting results for which people will pay you. The more you know, the more freedom and opportunity you have. And the more you learn and the faster you learn it, the more rapidly you move upward and onward in your career and in every other area of your life.

Between where you are and where you want to go, there is almost always a gap, and in almost every case you will find that you can bridge this gap with knowledge and skills. In order to get from where you are to your goals, you have to learn and practice something new and different. You have to learn new skills and abilities. You have to learn new attitudes and methods. You have to learn new techniques and practices.

By joining the learning revolution, you will enhance every area of your life. You will be able to help your spouse and your children unlock and realize more of their individual potentials. You will be a better friend in helping your friends use more of their abilities. And you will be a better manager, developing the skills that will enable you to get far more out of yourself and other people than ever before.

Now, here are three steps you can take immediately to put these ideas into action.

First, analyze yourself and determine your core competencies, the key skills are essential to your job today. How good are you in each one?

Second, determine what you will have to be good at in order to do your job in an excellent fashion in the future. What is your plan to develop these new skills?

Third, create a learning plan and professional development program for yourself. Dedicate yourself to lifelong learning and personal improvement, and never stop getting better at what you do.