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Money and Love: the Contributor Mind-set

personal development

Now let’s consider the contributor mind-set, which recognizes that the best way to make money is to provide fair value in exchange. Create genuine social value and receive payment commensurate with that value. Due to market inefficiencies, sometimes you’ll be underpaid and sometimes you’ll be overpaid, but the basic idea is that you earn money by contributing.

If you want to earn income as a contributor, you must impart social value, not personal value. Many would-be contributors get stuck on this concept. Personal value is whatever you say it is. You’re free to decide what has value for you personally, and it doesn’t matter if anyone agrees with you. Social value, however, is determined by social consensus. If you believe that your work has tremendous value, but virtually no one else does, then your work may have high personal value but little or no social worth. The key point: your income depends on the social value of your work, not the personal value.

If you want to generate income from your efforts, you must create social value. There’s no getting around that. No social value means no income. If your skills and efforts aren’t aligned with the creation of genuine social worth, you won’t be able to generate much income as a contributor.

This isn’t an unfair system. Since money is a social resource backed by collective value, it makes sense that you won’t get paid much for provideing something of little or no importance to the group. The saying “Find a need and fill it” rings true.

Another name for the contributor mind-set is the abundance mind-set, which says that wealth can be created from ideas and action. Your personal gain is a reflection of the social value you’ve contributed. If you want to earn a high income, you must contribute substantial social value. The more social value you provide, the more money you can earn. This is a win-win mind-set because you’re putting value into the system for the benefit of others.

Under the contributor mind-set, you receive money as payment for your social service. The money you earn is society’s way of saying: “In exchange for your valued contribution, you are hereby granted the right to extract equivalent value from society at a time of your choosing.” This is a beautiful thing!

The only real limit on your income is how much social value you can create. If you want to earn more money, develop your skills and talents to facilitate the creation of lots of social value. Focus on giving, and the getting will largely take care of itself. The systems to reward social service are already in place, so all you need to do is plug your service into the existing marketplace.

Generating income from social contribution is a very positive experience. Consequently, it won’t lower your consciousness like the moocher mind-set. With the contributor mind-set, wealth and consciousness aren’t in conflict. In fact, they synergize extremely well together, especially if you reinvest some of your income into expanding your contribution.

If you adopt the contributor mind-set, just be aware that members of the moocher mind-set will sometimes mistakenly count you among them. As you work to increase your social contribution and thereby earn a higher income, moochers will project their values onto you, concluding that you must be taking advantage of others for personal gain just as they are. Don’t let moochers dissuade you from your path. Let your inspiration come from the desire to provide even more social value. Don’t withhold your work just because others misinterpret your motives.

Under the contributor model, you always have the option of making pro bono contributions (that is, you can create social value and give it away for free). You don’t have to be paid if you don’t want to.

Consciously choose the contributor mind-set because it’s aligned with love, while the moocher mind-set clearly is not. Don’t sacrifice your humanity for money. Never treat a human being like a dollar sign. No amount of money is worth the price of such horrendous disconnection. Sharing genuine value with others is an act of love, one that can earn you plenty of money while simultaneously increasing your connectedness and consciousness. So the good news is that you can generate as much wealth as you desire without lowering your consciousness, but only if you focus your energies on the contribution side.

* Source: Personal Development for Smart People by Steve Pavlina

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