Random Thoughts on Net Worth

Net Worth is used in the financial world as the value of all the assets owned minus the outstanding liabilities. Net Worth is one of the parameters used to measure how high or big a company or an individual is.?

Another way to look at Net Worth (when it is about people) is as the knowledge and expertise that one has accumulated over the years based on one's life's successes and failures.?

We all have our share of successes and failures in our personal and professional lives. Most of our achievements are known to others (as we seldom miss a chance to speak about them), and some?failures are known to the outside world (despite our best efforts to bury them deep into the Earth's mantle). But we learn and become wiser with the lessons learned from our successes and failures. We keep applying the accumulated wisdom to improve or correct our next project, assignment, or any activity in our personal life. Everyone is allowed to make a mistake, but if you repeat it, you are either stupid and/or incompetent. And none of us wants to feel like one or seen like one. As we grow in life, our internal net worth also keeps growing.

But does our Net Worth keep moving like a stock market index based on what others say about us? Does a poor or excellent performance evaluation by a superior swing it like a pendulum? If we hear people bad-mouthing us (on our faces or behind our backs—in public or private), does our Net Worth plunge to depths? Or does public praise make it soar heavenwards??

It does not need to be because only one person should decide your net worth: YOU. In this world, no one knows you better than yourselves. Every person knows only one or two dimensions of others. Many failures (and maybe a few successes) are kept inside our hearts and minds, oblivious to others, and their lessons are known only to us. Hence, we should only decide our Net Worth.?

Having a?high Net Worth helps us face our professional and personal lives confidently and with equanimity. It prevents us from getting swayed by what others say about us and helps us get along with our tasks with poise.?

However, it is human to feel low after a public putdown by your boss or to hear negative office talk by toxic people about you. A string of failures or results that don't meet our expectations can also lower our Net Worth.

A simple solution is to go back to your inner mental vaults and think about your past success stories and good things that you did, or call a friend or colleague who was part of your success and recap a few anecdotes from that project or incident, how you/team overcome a seemingly insurmountable obstacle etc. Or look at your old mark lists or awards that you received or reread an appreciative mail from a colleague or an ex-boss. Or those of you who believe in a larger life force or almighty, you may draw your replenishments from it when your Net Worth is low. But always remember that failure is a failure only when you stop trying and the person who put you down, intentionally or otherwise, is unaware of the real you ('Do not resent those who destroy your garden. Perhaps they are blind?')

We might not achieve nirvana, but if we define?ourself?our Net Worth and make all efforts to keep it high, it will protect us like the ozone layer that protects the Earth from harmful UV radiation.