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ADD VALUE TO 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!





ADD VALUE TO LIFE - To learn more about this author, visit Jonathan Payne's Website.

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Cheryl Matthynssens

Cheryl is a life skills coach, licensed Chemical Dependency Counselor and a 20 year entrepreneur.  Cheryl's dedication to achieving a life of balance led to her expanding her teaching from the simple managing of life's daily challenges to adding financial well being as well.  A direct marketer with DrinkACT, she is gaining ground in the online community with her concepts of making sure business owners, entreprenuers and employees have well rounded life styles.  She opened up a small affiliate site - The Balance Guide-  to help others find resources for mental and emotional well being.  Visit Cheryl's blog to see more of the diversity beyond business she has began offering online at www.thebalanceguide.blogspot.com

- Visit Cheryl Matthynssens's Website

Dave Kurlan
Dave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website

George Ludwig
George Ludwig is a recognized authority on sales strategy and peak performance psychology. An international speaker, trainer, and corporate consultant, he helps clients like Johnson & Johnson, Abbott Laboratories, Northwestern Mutual, CIGNA, and numerous others improve sales force effectiveness and performance. Though it's George's strategies and processes that help corporations increase productivity and performance, it's his tremendous energy and dynamism that spark the transformation. Again and again, clients remark on his amazing ability to unleash human capacity and inspire men and women to break out of their comfort zones. The result is a whole new type of salesperson. His customized presentations teach achievers to make stunning advances in their lives. From helping salespeople realize cherished dreams to helping corporations exponentially accelerate revenue streams, George Ludwig leaves audiences and individuals empowered, emboldened, and clamoring for more. George is the best-selling author of Power Selling: Seven Strategies for Cracking the Sales Code and Wise Moves: 60 Quick Tips to Improve Your Position in Life & Business. - Visit George Ludwig's Website


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About The Author


Jonathan Payne
(Visit Jonathan's Website) Jonathan Payne has spent years studying and working with human behaviour and has facilitated numerous seminars in personal effectiveness. He is a management and executive coach, a professional speaker, a facilitator of workshops and seminars for businesses in effective performance, a personality profiling practitioner and a regular columnist in the local press. Jonathan holds memberships of the Professional Speakers Association of Southern Africa, Coaches and Mentors of South Africa and the Association of Psychological Type International.You can contact him at jonathan@livingways.co.za or visit his website at www.livingways.co.za

Jonathan Payne is a Platinum author on EvanCarmichael.com
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