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ADD VALUE TO LIFE

Written by: Jonathan Payne

Article Overview: We can just as easily choose to add value to life as we can to devalue life.

ADD VALUE TO LIFE

Someone claimed that the only two certainties in life are death and taxes. We have an interesting tax which we pay every time we buy something, and often we pay it without noticing. Value Added Tax somehow just sneaks up on us.

It’s a pity that the wonderful concept of adding value somehow gets tied up with the not quite so wonderful concept of taxation. Adding value is a great idea. It is a core business concept, but can also be a fundamental attitude for living. How do we add value to life?

There are some people I really enjoy being with. They are people who in their talking, in their gestures, in their attitude seem to add so much more to life. When I have been with them I feel happier, more confident and somehow more alive. They add value to the conversation, the relationship, to life in general. I’m sure you know people like that (it’s possible you’re like that yourself) and you know how good it is when you have been in touch with them.

I don’t think such people differ from others in any way apart from the fact that they make a conscious choice to improve life in every way – they choose to add value.

J.K. Rowling in her book “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” created a horrid set of characters called Dementors. The Dementors are the prison guards of Azkaban and they control their prisoners by sucking the life out of them. The really horrible fact about the Dementors is that they are not entirely fictitious. Just as we know people who add value, so we also encounter people who drain us. Sometimes just being with them is exhausting. Their conversations, their attitudes, their general orientation toward life is draining and destructive and can be very contagious. And just as people who add value do so by conscious choice, so those who drain the energy from life choose to do so. They might not admit it, of course, but somewhere they have decided to be one of life’s Dementors.

It comes down to choice. We can just as easily choose to add value to life as we can to devalue life. Adding value is not found only in large heroic deeds. In fact it is found more often in the well chosen word, the compassionate gesture, the positive attitude, the warm welcome and the genuine interest in a person’s well-being.

I wonder what the effect would be if we dedicated a day to ensuring that everything we did that day would be designed to add value. I suspect it could be so enjoyable we might want to make a habit of it. And guess what, for that kind of added value there is no tax!

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Article Tags: attitude, attitudes, business concept, certainties, concept of taxation, conscious choice, conversations, core business, death and taxes, dementors, gestures, harry potter, harry potter and the prisoner, harry potter and the prisoner of azkaban, horrible fact, j k rowling, orientation, prison guards, prisoners, value added tax



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