TL;DR
What is the the only resource you have that is truly limited and has unlimited potential value for you and others?
Yeah, you guessed right - it's time.
Now go on with you life cause you don't have time to waste 🤣
Just kidding, but seriously though - why is it (T)oo (L)ong for you?
Because you are afraid to waste your time, and that which makes this time valuable - the "enabler".
What do I mean by enabler?
Something that like time, is invisible, but without it, nothing visible could ever be produced even in a lifetime. Have you guessed what it is?
Right, energy.
Thanks Comfreak for the image!
Energy is the fuel that time rides upon and enables you to use your head, hands and body wisely.
And indeed what are you without energy?
A lazy, depressed body that is near to useless. (Calm down - same here, it's not just you bro/sis)
Thanks ColiN00B for the image!
So, now that we''re left without the "TL;DL"ers - just the serious bunch, let's go more in-depth with this idea.
Let's take a banal example from everyday life that, with all the revolutionary ideas aside, is still the reality for 90+% of people - the working class. Most people still work for money, and for an insufficient amount too.
We'll talk about the "celeb" category in a moment and mention the steemians as well.
So, back to the working class - what are the employers, the business owners, the risk takers actually paying them for?
Are they paying them for their knowledge, skill, talent or just time?
Well, obviously not all jobs were created equal for sure, but if we go to the bottom line and aim for the common denominator, knowledge/skill/talent is not the answer. The value, the workers bring to the table is.
But what actually is value?
Let's try to come up with a formula that will make a simplistic estimation of one's ability to give value.
I would argue, that value created, equals time (human time) multiplied by (knowledge + skill) multiplied by talent, and the result multiplied by energy - when energy is a percentage of your available human energy.
How did I even get to that funny little formula?
Well, maybe we will all laugh at it in a week from now, but I will explain my logic in a moment and let's see if it makes any sense.
Let's first write out our formula in a mathematical notation so that it's easier to read and memorize:
(V)alue = (T)ime * (K + S) * Ta(L)ent * (E)nergy
Note that K and S can influence substantially the result of the equation, however, without applying them (using time and energy), the result will invariably be 0 or very close to 0.
Also, note that applying your K + S in the wrong area - one that you are not that talented and therefore interested in, you consequently don't have much desire and energy to invest in it, thus making the resulting value quite low, or at least not as high as it could be.
If you do whatever you know and are experienced and talented in, for a certain amount of time, with a percentage of your energy, that's what you get payed for.
Meaning, if we find a way to replace your knowledge, skill and talent, and eliminate your human time and energy which are the most limited and expensive resources, we will cut down the costs exponentially, because there will be no multiplication by your human time and energy; which, although highly creative (and thus mostly, wasted because most of the everyday work is chore), is very demanding and non cost effective for the money payers.
Since most things most humans do most of the time, are repetitive, and thus can be eliminated as technology advances, your skill and knowledge can not be the variables that give you the 'edge'.
So, what will happen to humanity? Will it disappear and give place to robots?
(Thanks DrSJS for the image!)[https://pixabay.com/en/users/DrSJS-149538/]
Of course not, that's complete nonsense.
Their will be robots (and a lot of them), and their will be humans (probably less than robots), but humans will have the upper hand. (At least if they are not dumb enough to program robots to exterminate humans)
What will happen then?
Well, of course I can not know for sure and nobody in fact can, but we can make logical conclusions by using our marvelous minds, because we are the ones that are creating the above reality, and in fact, even though losing jobs to robots might seem like very bad news, it will actually make us use our creative time and energy in more productive and fulfilling ways.
Hmm... That's an amazing idea for another post.
But that's not what I meant to talk about in this one - I wanted to prove to you and to myself, that the only resources that really count and you have control on, is time - human time, backed up with your energy - human energy.
(+ one more variable that we'll add to our formula in its 2.0 version)
Now, let's try to understand why are the people in the "celeb" category so highly valued (and payed); because at least superficially, it appears like they are not providing that much value according to our formula. Has it already failed us?
Just after 5 minutes LOL? 😂
I think not.
And this is why:
Even though celebs have as much time as a simple peasant has (a peasant might actually have more, because he usually leads a healthier way of life), they supply a huge amount of energy to our formula. But not in the normal sense - in a bit tricky one.
People with a big circle of influence generate energy within the influenced people, which enables more people to have dreams (=>energy), jobs (=>money to fund dreams & desires) and inspire them into action, which once again adds more energy into circulation in the "human system" of society, humanity, the whole world.
Thus, even though the celebs might be bringing the same amount of time as you and me, they usually are closer to utilizing a 100% of their personal energy and talents, which sparks a huge wildfire of energies inspired within the "normal" people, thus making the celebs worth crazy amounts of money for their time, limited or not that special skill, talent/knowledge.
(Thanks Free-Photos for the photo!) [https://pixabay.com/en/users/Free-Photos-242387]
That can explain why you don't have to be the smartest, most talented and amazing person in whatever you do, as long as you know how to spark that viral burst of energy in a growing amount of people. Being very talented might help, but the most popular people seldom have the most amazing talents in their area of expertise itself - it usually has to do with the "missing" variable we will soon add to our formula, read on.
If you give more energy, you get even more back
This is a marvelous feature that energy has, making it the only viral "joker" element in our equation, which does not hold true for time, and certainly not for skill, talent or knowledge. (You don't get back time for time given, and you get mainly money in return for your K, S & L, and of course more expertise too, but as noted before, that's not what will make you a celebrated human being unless you are prodigy level).
Now, don't get me wrong - you must have knowledge and skills so that people can appreciate you.
And every single one of us has talents, of various levels and in various areas of life.
Look, this is an absolute must - you MUST be useful. No society, human, animal or insect, wants useless creatures.
Everything is use, mutual-interest, value based in our world.
You see, humans are smart - they won't celebrate an idiot, unless the idiot provides insane amounts of energizing energy, which is usually measured in insane amounts of money.
And that my friends, is a skill and a talent by itself.
However, if it is not applied for a long enough time, with enough intensity of your available energy, no skill or talent will ever be worth anything noteworthy.
Want an example?
A prodigy singer example
Just think of a prodigy singer that sings all day to herself in the bathroom - she inspires no energy in anyone but herself, making her objective value equal to zero in that area.
Actually the above example of the prodigy singer makes me want to refine our formula and make it into a 2.0 version, which will add another variable to the equation:
P - number of (P)eople, not including the giver, that are positively influenced, energized by the giver:
another "joker" variable that can enable you to leverage your value, by virtually unlimited amount of people you can energize by what you have to offer (Your "merchandise", as my dear mentor Avram Nov used to call it).
Human value formula 2.0:
Ready for the improved human value formula!?
Awesome! Here it is:
V = (K+S) * L * T * E * P
Note that, if any of the last 3 variables are zero, no matter how smart and skilled, your objective value will be zero.
I assume that talent can never be 0, since every person has some level of talent in any chosen area of live. It can be a powerful multiplying factor, but it can never nullify your value, whereas wasted time, wrongly used or withheld energy usually cause exactly that - nullification of whatever potential you have.
A talented, knowledgable, skilled drug addict
A talented, knowledgable, skilled drunkard:
(Thanks rebcenter-moscow for the pics!)[https://pixabay.com/en/users/rebcenter-moscow-6351207/]
Your subjective, potential value is of course never ever zero, because you are a human being with intrinsic value and creative power, that will grow in direct proportion to the time and energy you apply to the area(s) you are best suited for(that's what talent will prompt you if you are attentive enough), and the number of people you energize with whatever you do.
And I think at this stage it is becoming very clear (to me too) that we have a very simple (genius?) and a very useful concept-formula that can help anyone figure out whether he or she is doing right, or just being all wasted in vain either by spending time and energy ineffectively in the wrong area(s) or allowing no one but oneself to benefit from whatever amazing talent, knowledge or skill one might have.
Oh, almost forgot. I promised to mention steemians in regard to our human value-estimating formula :)
So here you are:
What are the steemians payed for?
For their knowledge? Are they?
In a sense, but not really. You can bring immense amount of knowledge from anywhere. It is freely available to anyone alive and aware.
But only by applying your time, energy, skill and talent to it (=thus personalizing it, making it count) you can potentially make it valuable.
Since the P variable (number of people you energize other than yourself) is always present in steem, the smarter, more energizing(=inspiring and valuable) your posts, the more you get "payed".
(I know, I know... Let's just pretend there are no whales and everything is super fair).
So, realizing that knowledge and skill are a resource that everyone has virtually equal access to, that talents are personal and that energizing others (P>>0) is a given (because otherwise nothing you have has any use or meaning to humanity), the only resources that matter and can make the difference by the virtue of smart application, are:
Time which you have the least amount of - it goes and does not come back; and
Energy - the more you give of it, the more you get back
when
Unless applied to the areas that suit you well (L >> 0.1), have very little value
Unless P > 0, it doesn't count at all.
while
As P growth, your E growth as well, thus leveraging your viral "joker" even more.
Wow, you stayed with me up to hear! Bro, sis - I love you and appreciate your time and energy!
And if so, please consider giving me just a little bit more of your precious energy in a comment below so that I can get back some, and you get back even more! ;)
Thanks for support and we'll talk(talk? I guess "think" is more appropriate) again soon.
Ciao