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How to Find The Most Important Asset in Your Life

written by JIBRAN EL BAZI |
TABLE OF CONTENTS

Concerning a post I made earlier, about how taking care of your health increases your wealth, there is something else I hope you will think about deeply.

You see when you start to think of your health as a form of wealth, its easy to make the leap to seeing yourself as an asset. You're not just any asset, but an asset that you have full control over. 

This asset is something no one else has. You are your own monopoly. And having a monopoly gives you an edge.

Like Peter Thiel says in his book, "From zero to one":

"If you want to create and capture lasting value, look to build a monopoly." 

Not having a monopoly on yourself is why most of us compete in the work we do for employers. If you have a monopoly, you don't have to compete with others. You don't want to compete because it ends up in a race to the bottom. 

infographic about jobs
Source

You only have to look at workers worldwide. Wages are low, and applying for vacancies is gutwrenching. 

Illusion of control

To highlight a bit more how you are not in control when you don't have a monopoly on yourself as an asset:

You go through an intake process, where you are assessed on your skills. And more often than not, you're declined for the position. 

(Again, this is because you compete with others that have the same abilities.)

At some point, you get lucky and land a job. But you're still under the influence of someone else. And you are measured only on the skills that you need for the work for which you are hired. 

The uniqueness that you could provide is lost on the employer. After a while, you may even become lethargic because you won't stay satisfied doing the same thing all the time. You sit in the same spot, forty hours each week, doing something that is neither fulfilling nor improving your own life. 

And people are surprised why so many of us mortals get burned out.

The promise of "Just go to school, study vigorously, get a job until your pension, then you'll be happy.", is a lie —

Big-Fat-Lie. 

No wonder you compete with so many other people though, it has been spoonfed to you from an early age! 

And what's even more tragic, is that all that time— a time where you didn't have kids yet or that fancy busy career—  is time which you could have spent trying out many other things to uncover the real YOU.

Sadly, it is time you won't be able to get back.

What do you do? 

Well, you go on social media and swipe the lethargy away, post judgmental messages to others to feel good about yourself, or binge-watch Netflix until you fall asleep. 

Only to be woken up after 5 minutes from all the notifications on your phone—in your Mindfulness group-WhatsApp someone shared a drawing from their bullet journal—all ten of you are expected to immediately send a 'Thumbs up!' or 'You're awesome!' emoji!

Yes, fucking depressing, isn't it.

Hope?

Now, I don't have an easy answer. What I will tell you is not, and I repeat NOT an instantly gratifiable solution. But I do have to say this:

  • Put your phone away a little more. 
  • In those phoneless moments, start thinking about your life a bit more, as in, what you ACTUALLY do day-to-day and why. (Maybe talk to people around you.)
  • Stretch your legs, figuratively speaking. See what you can do, what unique thing you like doing, that others are unable to stick with. (That's what you can leverage!)

Maybe, after a few years of discovering yourself more and more, you'll be able to say, "See ya!" to anyone that doesn't value your unique skills and perspective. 

Finding yourself means you know best on how to deliver value with your monopoly, your asset, which is you.

When you find your voice in the world, it is something no one else can take from away you.

Then you can provide value. Then you can leave your mark.

Good luck!

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