Mindset
Whatever you think of yourself sets your limits.
Seeing yourself as a king will make you feel and act like a king, seeing yourself as a peasant will limit you to the duties and activities of a peasant. People today, although wealthier than ever, don't see themselves as the extremely valuable members of our society they are. I find that unacceptable. Seeing yourself as more value than you already do is mandatory for treating yourself with the respect you deserve. Not everyone can be that honest with themselves. We're wealthier than ever from the innovations of our predecessors, we have the easier job of maintaining society and less building now and we should be happy for that fact.
Universal Wealth is always increasing
Henry Ford paid his workers $5 a day for 8 hours ($0.625 hourly) of work in 1914. Scaling for inflation from then to 2023, each worker was paid $130 daily ($16.94 hourly). Today an Amazon worker who stacks boxes creates about the same value as a cutting edge technology designer at the time hourly. ($15 hourly) This should be a sign to everyone; work at all levels, even someone who could be replaced by automation is even more valuable than ever! The collective of wealth is always increasing.
Think about it more people have a car, which Ford's workers didn't even have until a few paychecks in. You have a vast highway network for valuable logistics services, which while around then, was not as developed. Not to mention a semi-truck that, you guessed it, they also didn't have. Today is the wealthiest we as a world have ever been, tomorrow, more goods and services will be created and increase the wealth even more. Why not be honest with yourself and Promise More to yourself
You are worth a lot of value to anyone who is willing to bet on your strengths, but that doesn't mean everyone will.
In today's work environment, you're easily evaluated based upon your degrees and experience. We've chosen this method because it's the easiest to tell who is serious about a certain subject. The caveat is there are a lot of people with good positions that don't have the credentials. This should say something about society to you, it says to me that people want someone serious and confident over someone who is not. Even without a degree you can be more valuable than someone holding one.
Finding that specific thing you do will give lot more value than generalizing yourself. So find something you enjoy and max out your knowledge on it.
I would like to quote the first chapter of, "Wealth of Nations"
"Among the savage nations of hunters and fishers, every individual who is able to work is more or less employed in useful labour, and endeavours to provide, as well as he can, the necessaries and conveniencies of life, for himself, and such of his family or tribe as are either too old, or too young, or too infirm, to go ahunting and fishing. Such nations, however, are so miserably poor, that, from mere want, they are frequently reduced, or at least think themselves reduced, to the necessity sometimes of directly destroying, and sometimes of abandoning their infants, their old people, and those afflicted with lingering diseases, to perish with hunger, or to be devoured by wild beasts. Among civilized and thriving nations, on the contrary, though a great number of people do not labour at all, many of whom consume the produce of ten times, frequently of a hundred times, more labour than the greater part of those who work; yet the produce of the whole labour of the society is so great, that all are often abundantly supplied; and a workman, even of the lowest and poorest order, if he is frugal and industrious, may enjoy a greater share of the necessaries and conveniencies of life than it is possible for any savage to acquire."
I apologize for making you read a book during a blog post and an old English one at that, but it expresses very valuable points about how specializing increases the wellbeing of not only you, but everyone in society. We're a team and you're a valuable part of Team Society, and you need to see yourself for the amazing value you bring to the table. No business could work without other people and other businesses.
Think of yourself as a part of a team and not just a worker for money. Money wouldn't be a concept if our predecessors didn't have a net of trust between each other, infrastructure to meet each other and security to safely exchange each other's goods. We genuinely need each other to prosper.
You're worth as much as you set yourself
Your time and your word is all you have in this life, you need to be careful how you spend your time, it is more valuable than any money will ever be, every second you spend doing something mundane you don't believe you're suited for is a piece of time unfulfilled you will never get back. Money is your Time, and you should be compensated fairly for giving time of your life to help society.
Even at the smallest scale, an employed janitor who committed themselves to keeping our buildings clean will inevitably have saved a life. What if the toilet was dirty? A single tiny cut could be a life threatening event. Janitors have a negative perception to a lot of people but that is completely unwarranted they are an amazing , everyone plays a role in society and it happens to be that they're very important. Everyone is kicking up dirt and pathogens with each step.
Conclusion
As long as you're helping and creating you're a very important person even if you have a stigma around you. Everyone has a purpose and it's becoming ever easier to contribute to society, look at automation as a very good example. Many people would be confined to a life of assembling parts in a sweatshop, but we now have machines to supply the world and allow you more valuable time. You're fortunate to have the opportunities in front of you. Make the best of it, I believe everyone can run a successful business to contribute much more to society and their legacy; the first step is always trying.
Although you should always evaluate your situation, it wouldn't hurt to dip your toes in the water.
Thank you for reading. This thought piece was provided by Mason Duke, the founder of PromiseMO, LLC