Life’s up and downs provide windows of opportunity to determine your values and goals. Think of using all obstacles as stepping stones to build the life you want. — Marsha Sinetar

Previously on GPMCC – Values:

We of the human race are dreamers. But some are doers.

Some are content to dream, but never do while others not only dream, but do. Those that do often become rich while those that only dream continue to live in their dream world and remain stagnant, and often poor. If not poor, then living from paycheck-to-paycheck, always tight on money, always fearful that some issue may happen to upset the delicate balance of their life.

I admit I want to be rich, not famous, just rich. But the political elements have convinced us, and me too, that being rich is evil. Well if that is the case then why are all the politicians filthy rich? These political elements have all the money yet deny us the opportunity to earn more money. Who is stealing from who?

It’s not too late, even at my age I realized that values are the only thing which really matter these days. Why? Because values also create morals and ethics. I consider these elements triplets, and you can’t have one without the other two. If one dies they all die. At least that is the way I see things.

I have six decades of self-imposed failure behind me and I am sick and tired of it. I should have made my mark during the 1980’s, the Reagan revolution, but I didn’t. In fact I did just the opposite. I refused to learn, refused to mature, refused to listen (especially to my wife). I was absolutely stupid, selfish, ignorant, and determined it was my way or no way. I was such an ignoramus.

We give to our children the values we were taught when we were kids. So if we were deprived of proper values how can we expect our children to have appropriate values, when we ourselves don’t? As adults we are ignorant where values are concerned and we, in our ignorance, deliver to our off-spring the disadvantage of having improper values while disregarding good solid values. The kicker is we don’t think of values, what they are or how they influence/affect us. If we think of value at all it is in the material sense and not the spiritual realm.

However, self-examination is one of the hardest task a human will ever undertake. While many business values also apply to self, we have a tendency to undermine ourselves, to sabotage ourselves as it were. We find it much easier for someone else to “tell us” what our values should be rather than look deep within ourselves and determine what our own personal values are.

Rather than lift people up, out of the slums of despair these politicians do everything possible to bring the successful down and force them to live in the slums of America. While they, the elites, bathe in glory, telling themselves, and believing it, that they really care about you. Meanwhile your life is miserable and in many cases, despicable, until you employ a value system to your life.

And now to continue…

Values equates to freedom. When you set values for yourself you begin to live in another realm, another dimension as it were. Why? Because the liberal left, and many politicians, view values as “old-fashion”, something from yesteryear, something to be shunned. I submit just the opposite is true because it is the liberal attitude which enslaves each of us and keeps us from being truly happy.

Being happy is not a negative emotion but to listen to the politicians and main stream media one would conclude that being happy is the greatest sin of the world. Nobody deserves to be happy and those that are, are considered to be abnormal. Really? Being happy is a crime? In the liberal world, the liberal view, it is. After all who are you going to believe – the elites, complete strangers, who know better than you, or your own heart and feelings?

Welcome to Part 3 of the Value series. In Part 2 we defined the term Value as displayed in the dictionary and we also discussed the main classifications and sub-classifications of what establishes value. Now to be sure these are my terms and not endorsed by anyone else. However to me these classifications make sense.

I talked about the two main classifications but did not discuss the sub-classifications I established for values. The two additional groups, or sub-classifications, in my opinion consist of:

• Physical Values
• Spiritual/Mental Values

Physical Values are not those values you can actually hold in your hand, like a coffee cup, but rather a value which guides your actions in business and with people (not family). They guide your actions in financial transactions and money situations.

I admit there may be a better term than Physical Values but if there is I can’t think of it. I look at this term as the ability to improve one’s self via goals and performance within the marketplace. Physical Values determine how you treat others in the marketplace, how honest you are in your business dealings, your business ethics and morality.

When Og Mandino (The Greatest Salesman in the World) speaks of multiplying your values he is directing his comments towards your physical actions. Things like setting high goals and improving your selling techniques are front and center in this arena. In fact almost every self-help, self-motivating book or article I have read always centers around selling.

But what if you aren’t a salesman? What if you work for someone in an office? Perhaps you are a Liberian, janitor, or cubical worker what are your Physical Values then?

As you can see Physical Values creates a force of their own and there is no one size fits all. Be that as it may there are common elements which you can use to guide your actions regardless of your occupation. You can set these basic values and use them as a starting point for your own life. Then you can add, subtract, or adjust particular values as necessary to enhance your own life.

But before we get into specifics let us move on to the second sub-classification: Spiritual/Mental Values.

This set of values centers around concepts of the mind. What I mean by that is these are values which affect the emotional state of mankind, feelings if you will. Values have a direct influence upon the emotional state of man and this influence can, and often does, control every action or inaction we engage in.

There is a lot of crossover between Physical and Mental values yet they can be, and feel, like separate entities. For example take the value of money. How you feel about it can actually vary depending upon many factors. I will use me as an example.

In my work life I demand a very high salary because my talents and skills, which I have honed over the years, demand a high salary. Yet… in my personal life, outside the work environment, I have an aversion to making money. The question I ask myself is: Why?

What is the difference between making a high paycheck working for someone else and earning money for me in my free time? This concept has haunted me for years and it has held me back from making a life for myself and my family. My work provides me a living but my free time, my desire to excel outside the work environment is what creates a great life. I am constantly contradicting myself. Yeah I’m great at making a paycheck but really lousy at building a life.

It’s like I have this anchor around my neck pulling me down, keeping me underwater, never allowing me to take a breath of the sweet life. For years, correction decades, I have struggled with this concept and I will be damned if I can break the chains of the anchor. I am frustrated, tired, and just pissed off with myself. What’s worse is that all of this is self-imposed!

It wasn’t until 2010 when I began walking this path I am now on did I open my eyes and discover what it is which holds me back. It was not an earth shaking moment. In fact it snuck up on me, real slow when one day the answer to my question just appeared. Then it became an earth shaking moment.

What I discovered amazed me, but didn’t change me. Which makes me even more pissed off with myself. I had, and have, all the answers in front of me but to this day, this writing, I am still living paycheck-to-paycheck. What the hell is wrong with me?!!! Why can’t I break my self-imposed chains?

It all boils down to one thing: A lack of values.

I have my Physical Values, I don’t commit crimes, I don’t cheat on my wife, I love my family, I provide for my family (but I could do better), I’m very good, correction extremely good, at my job, all the Physical Values which creates a paycheck, and makes a living, but not a life. My Mental/Spiritual Values are lacking. Why are they lacking? Because I have not identified them, nor have I identified myself with them.

What am I going to do? I’m going to work on myself the same as I have done the last six years. But… I’m going to pay more attention to what I am doing. These blog entries, this topic is helping me more than I can ever imagine. By helping me I hope I am providing insight for you.

Why are you where you are? This day, this moment. Could it be a lack of values has invaded your life? Whatever the reason it is within our individual power to change our circumstances. It won’t happen overnight, I know I’ve been fighting this issue for years and I still have a long way to go. But it will happen. I will change my life for the better and at some point I will no longer be living paycheck-to-paycheck.

I just hope I don’t wake up dead before that day happens.

G.