Chase Skills, Not Money

This article will explain why you want to chase skills, not money. Chasing money is an exhausting goal, and shifting your perception around money can help you attract more. The more skills you build, the more money will be drawn to you, just like a magnet.  Money is a tool, and those that bring value to others receive more of it. The more value you bring, the more money you’re likely to make, we bring value through the unique skills we bring to the table. You can leverage money in a few ways; you can leverage your own money, other people’s money, and you can buy time for money (but we’ll get into that at the end of the article).

Instead of cooking a full meal, which will undoubtedly take a few hours from complete preparation and cleaning, you can pay for dinner while out at a restaurant. Money allows us to leverage other people’s time to help us achieve our goal.

Why do we chase money?

We chase money because money gives us the freedom for experiences, and in America, we love our adventures. From movie theaters to at-home streaming accounts, movies and tv shows flood our culture, but none of this is free. Netflix carries a subscription, the movie theater requires tickets, and cable still has a monthly bill.

But if I’ve learned anything, it is; we will gladly pay for an experience we believe will be enjoyable, and we will pay for an adventure if it gives us social proof. The new Television show that comes out this weekend will continue in conversation the following week, one experience creates an exclusive experience but requires the cost of the first experience.

Remember, money is a tool that allows us to experience more; it will enable us to expand ourselves and leverage other people’s time to create our own: the more time we have, the more opportunities for experience.

Why do we chase money then?

We get focused on the tool that gets us to our goal and forgets about the goal itself, money is and always has been a tool, but when we lose it, we get emotional. When we carry an emotional attachment to cash, we often get blinded by our actions, and two things can happen. We are liable to save what we earn, holding on to it too tightly, afraid to lose it. Or we spend because of our emotional connection, filling an emotional need through personal achievement or social relationships.

As we lose money, it’s only natural for us to want to replace it, as we chase each experience, we pay a cost between time and money, and we can’t earn more time. Instead of trading our time for money, we should be trading our time for skills and attracting money.

Time is priceless, yet we trade it for such small amounts, even at the highest income-earning professions. Once we run out, that’s it, and since your experience here is a novelty, you should make the most of it.

What skills attract money?

Since money is attracted to us, what skills attract money? In sports, we must always work on the fundamentals. Your skills are the same way; the three skills that ever need refining are; reading, writing, and speaking.

Before you go off and start learning skills, be honest with yourself, how do you want to attract money? What do you want to do?

If you own a business you’ve already decided, you’re ready to attract money, as the world evolves your skills will grow to serve a market that continues to change.

Learning is the ultimate skill; when education is a mission, nothing can get in your way. When you know how to learn, there isn’t anything you can’t learn. The best skill you can cultivate is learning, whether you encounter a problem or if you’re trying to build skills to help your future, learning is a lifelong skill.

Creativity is one of those problematic skills that seem to elude us. However, it’s much closer than you think. The essence of creativity is in creating. First, it begins as an imitation. Then it evolves into something of our own. To be creative in your business, you need two things, adaptability and extensive knowledge of your field. 

Creativity is essentially the creation of new ideas, but you can’t create new ideas if you’re not feeding your mind anything new, the more knowledge you have in your field, the deeper your understanding.

Creativity is like consulting, the job of the future because it’s not something we can replicate. It allows you to plan for and prepare solutions to unknown problems. Without the ability to adapt, we may miss the answer right under your nose, and solutions require an open mind.

Conscious attention is a skill; for us, it allows us to make decisions outside of our current conditions. Sales require advertising, and advertising is the attempt to engage conscious attention. Attention is a currency for most businesses because if no one knows you exist, no one can buy your products, just because you gain attention doesn’t mean you can keep it. It’s a struggle, not only for us but for the ones selling us products.

The world has an abundance of information today, and the ability to focus our concentrated attention will separate the successful from the unsuccessful. Without consideration, our lives are built for us and not by us. We make someone else’s goals and live someone else’s life. Concentrated focus is our superpower. If you want to reach any purpose, it will require your conscious awareness.

The dark part of focus

The dark part of the focus is the world we live in today. We live in a constant war of attention. We live in an age of information. We produce more information in a day than someone from the 17th century consumed in their lifetime. It’s a different world entirely. Data is helpful, but too much information is a hindrance, it can usually degrade or delude our decisions.

We don’t need more information, sometimes we need the right information, and other times we need to trust our intuition. The information helps guide us to different understandings, but the best type of knowledge is that which is applicable. Even in studying the right information, action eludes us.

That’s the dark part of the focus, sometimes the thing you’re doing is justified, but it isn’t what you should be doing. Though focusing on the right information feels like an achievement, it’s our mind substituting this task for the one that was our priority.

To arm yourself with the right information, network with experts in domains you’re interested. If you have an interest in business news, befriend a stockbroker. If you’re interested in world news, help an analyst. You can use other people as another filter for information, dissecting what’s essential and what isn’t.

One of the habits you can build is putting first things first, focusing on what matters. Putting first things first was a habit I grabbed from the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey, and habits help you concentrate when you feel out of control.

Where education goes wrong

In school, they use a specific grading system, but that’s where education goes wrong. There are no grading systems in life; you either try or you don’t. We need to develop a capacity for learning through action instead of merely learning.

The learning that occurs today is a problem but not one that has a simple solution. If we can’t do anything about the system at least, we can focus on ourselves and how we individually learn. Your learning doesn’t end when you leave school, that’s where the best learning starts, behavioral and psychological education.

The more you understand about yourself, the more you’ll be able to manage your emotional and mental states with less friction. Self-knowledge course isn’t in schools if it were you would be a force to contend with, but you still can be. Learning is continuous, and it’s a natural part of what we do, we gather information to help us contend with the world and use that information to take us to new levels.

Learning about wealth and money management is no different; we should understand how to earn and multiply our money. It would help if you realized why you spend money and spending behaviors. Then you can change them.

We aren’t taught about money in school, at least not enough and not the essential things. To me, it makes learning about money that much more attractive because there is so much possibility. Our first step in this process is learning how to learn.

What it takes to Level up

You might be stuck in your current situation because you still need what it takes to level up. The truth is you’re only a few inches away from the next level, you’ve done the work to get this far, don’t give up now. Push harder; the only thing we can control is our effort and our motivation. You aren’t your results; you create results, impact results.

An effort is energy; nothing great starts on its own. It begins with persistence and a determined will. You did not create this power; you direct it, you can think, work smarter, not harder. The more intelligently you can work, the more work you’ll accomplish, make sure you’re not busy being busy, and instead you’re hitting your goals.

Writing your current progress or tracking your work is one way to figure out if you’re busy or growing. A change in your life is a change in perspective, and it’s not always easy to step outside of ourselves.

The observer effect is the theory that the mere observation of a phenomenon changes that phenomenon, reflection is a muscle; we work it every day. Without reflection, we’re unable to sharpen the constant character we’re forming. Without reflection, our ego will tell us everything we’re doing is okay.

The truth is far from the ego’s story if we aren’t where we want to be; it’s because of something we aren’t doing. By shifting our actions or our habits, we can reach the next level, and practices give us time to focus on other mental tasks, by creating positive habits we create time.

Creating Time

If you asked me about creating time when I was in school, I would say, “No way, that sounds a little crazy.” Now I’m an advocate for creating time through habits, and through our practices, we can achieve mental freedom.

First, it’s essential to identify and replace any bad habits we currently practice, once identified, we must recognize the triggers. Most habits become a habit because it was an easier decision in a given environment; there was less friction for our mind to battle; a repeated decision becomes a habit.

You can identify negative habits through two elements. It wastes time that we intended to spend productively, and the change in state causes a negative emotion. It’s important to note that not all habits are equal, some you’ve carried with you your whole life, and others you’ve picked up from your environment.

I love fitness, absolute fitness fanatic, powerlifting, bodybuilding, Crossfit, running, hiking. I love to be active. However, when I would hang out with friends, I would grab a case of beer, I mean, why not? It was Friday, life was good, and I was hanging out with my buds. Over time those decisions compounded, I didn’t get the progress I wanted in weightlifting, and I had myself to blame.

Fast forward to today, and I don’t drink, I focus more on weightlifting and eating because I got my habits under control. One habit I picked up is hydration, filling up a gallon jug the night before and carrying it with me all day. I don’t worry about what I need to drink, and I’m drinking more than enough water to keep me at a higher level, I free up any time I spent getting water or thinking about what to drink.

I created time. You might think it’s only a little bit, but it adds up over time. I also meal prep for my post-gym meals once a week, which frees up an hour over the next five days, I cook for two hours and I gain five. Create a few more positive habits, and you’ve earned your day back.

That’s what habits are, a way to take back your life and create time. The more time you have, the more you can spend on earning a higher income for you and your family. 

Supercharge yourself

Supercharging yourself is about becoming more, money allows you to multiply and extend yourself. Think of it like this. One of the best things you can do for your abilities, talents, and skills is to take care of yourself. The world’s high performers and athletes all take care of themselves, I’m not saying you need to train like Michael Phelps.

When you’re healthy, your brain is healthy, and a healthy mind can influence anything in its environment inside and out. It’s not about being a high performer. It’s about the fundamentals that they’ve built as habits. Asleep routine to promote better sleep and increase recovery. A diet plan to follow to meet your weight goals. A workout routine to supplement your physical goals.

It’s planned and executed to focus on their skills. You can automate most of what you do if you master the fundamentals. Back to supercharging, the skills you build can attract money, which will allow you to develop higher-level skills and attract more money. It’s a big pay off when you go all-in on yourself, but you have to go all in.

Get a team that goals all in on you, as you’re chasing skills and supercharging your business, you’ll have to delegate your work. Delegation allows you to focus on growing and expanding yourself, which equally grows your business. 

Bottom line

You’re paid for the amount of perceived value you bring to the world, the higher the value, the more you’ll make. Skill building is a necessity and requires our full attention, but life never stops. Business is cause and effect. When you’re missing the outcome, it’s because the object is also missing. When you level up, you take both to the next level. Money works the same way when our income changes, so do our lifestyle. Everything goes to the next level, don’t chase money, chase skills, let us handle the money.

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