One of the greatest philosophies around having a healthy evaluation of your worth is knowing that your value does not decrease based on someone’s inability to see your worth. When you realise how much you are worth, you will stop giving people discounts. Tim Fargo said, “If you want to improve your self-worth, stop giving other people the calculator.”
We must believe totally that we carry within us a special form of “currency” that cannot be devalued. To maintain a healthy self-image, there are three things that must be vehemently resisted in life: Don’t ever look down on yourself; Don’t ever allow anyone to look down on you and Don’t ever look down on anyone. Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “No man can make you inferior without your own consent.”
We must all come to the realisation of the fact that we can never be treated more than the value we place on ourselves. Nobody, I repeat, nobody can make you inferior without your own consent. When you don’t know your worth, you are doomed to die as someone else.
One of the greatest movies that I found very difficult to get bored with while growing up is “The Gods Must be Crazy”; a comic allegory about a travelling Bushman who encounters modern civilisation and its stranger aspects, including a clumsy scientist and a band of revolutionaries. The film is basically about the conflict between the new order and the old epoch: The Namibian tribal people in a remote African desert live a happy life, but it is all torn to pieces when a Coca-Cola bottle falls from a plane. The confusion and myth surrounding the strange object disorganised the Bushmen as they made efforts to unravel the mystery object. In the process of unravelling the mystery around the bottle, they realised the multi-faceted use for it as it could be used for many tasks. They eventually idolised the Coca-Cola bottle as it was seen as a gift from the gods.The high demand for the bottle led to a serious argument among the Bushmen and they eventually decided to return it to where it came from – the gods!
The main actor of The Gods Must Be Crazy, N!xauToma, was only paid $300, even though the film produced in 1980 made over $200 million. He died a poor wretched bushman despite making millions of dollars for other people. He was hugely exploited at the negotiating table. In fact, he was merely told what was negotiated and he accepted with happiness. He died on July 5, 2003, at the age of 59. He died a poor man because he was not only exploited but he lacked the necessary skills to even realise that he was exploited. Yes, he died poor after playing the lead role in a film that earned more than $200 million in revenue. Where else does it happen if not in Africa?
Africans have always been exploited. A continent where ‘Western emperors’ feast and poach continually on its glory despite the huge deposit of minerals, resources and potentials.
The poignant story around the life and death of N!xau Toma shows that we are the principal factor in determining how far we can go in life’s journey.
So many people have pitiably become spectators in their own journey of destiny just because they value themselves less. Don’t put the pen of your life in the hand of another; know your worth. Maureen Dowd said, “The minute you settle for less than you deserve, you get even less than you settled for.” Never settle for less. When you settle for less, you would short-circuit your ability to get more from life. Until you raise the bar of your expectations, you would never become all that God wants you to be. The late boxing legend, Muhammad Ali, once said: “If they can make penicillin out of moldy bread, then they can sure make something out of you.” Never settle for less in life
Try spending more time around people that affirm your worth and help you nurture your potentials. The worst set of people to keep moving with in life are those that are psychologically blinded to your worth and value. You would need people that believe in you, people that invest in your dreams and goals, people that would bring the best and not the stress out of you. Mark Twain said: “Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.”
When you are seeking to bring big plans to fruition, it is important with whom you regularly associate. Hang out with friends who are like-minded and surround yourself with people who have a revelation of your worth. Similarly, be that kind of a friend for your friends.
Michel Angelo said: “The greatest tragedy of life is not that we set high aim and miss it, but that we set low aim and reach it.” I have often said that when you learn how much you are worth, you would stop giving people discounts. Don’t short-change yourself or cut yourself short. Know your worth. Then add tax!
Christine Mason Miller once said, “At any given moment in life, you have the power to say, “This is not how the story is going to end.” Life is full of amazing stories of people rising from obscurity to stardom, from a ‘mess’ to become a divine messenger, from breakdown to pioneering a major breakthrough.
Our biggest problem in life is self-awareness, the ability to fully realise who we are and what we are truly capable of doing.
I am using this piece to reach out to everybody out there with a very humble beginning. I want you to believe strongly that behind you is infinite power; before you are endless possibilities and within you are boundless opportunities. Whatever becomes of you is your responsibility. Don’t ever allow your conditions to determine your destination. No matter where you are from, no matter what you are passing through, no matter how obscure you think you are, no matter your limitation, you can rise beyond your background.
Many are simply poor because they are ignorant of their special gifts, and how it is linked to their wealth and financial freedom. Many people continuously live miserably on their meagre salary just because they are ignorant of the goldmine within them. The easiest route to recovery is discovery. Inability to discover your worth, your gift and the problems you’ve been called to solve is the simple reason you are gallivanting from one job to the other. Discover and develop your gifts and the whole world will come looking for you.
Inability to evaluate one’s worth can create a mental block between one’s potentials and the life that God has called one to live. Nobody will pay you more than you value yourself. You deserve to know the worth of your gift, talents, unique abilities and potential; this will seriously help you in the process of pricing the value you are adding to people. Many people are simply poor because they undervalue themselves.
