The creator is someone who always adds value. Always. The creator is constantly putting something valuable together, whether it’s a product, a job or a plan.

Creators can’t help but succeed because our economy rewards value; if one makes something valuable then people will want it. When people want it, they’ll pay. Value and profit go hand-in-hand.

Building wealth requires having the mindset of a creator.

This isn’t just about starting a business. This article will focus on how to be a creator in the “everyday” workplace. No product-line required.

Value Creates Profit

Our economic system rewards value. A product will not exist if no one purchases it and no one will purchase a product if they don’t believe it has value.

The iPod, best-seller books, designer clothes and other products only exist because people will purchase them. Make a cruddy product that simply doesn’t work to any extent and you won’t do as well as you would if you offered value.

Coca-Cola got where it’s at today because of a consistent taste and because of incredibly creative marketing towards the start of the mega-company’s existence. Value created profit.

The Internet was a mess before Google decided that a search-engine based on rewarding “popular” content would be valuable. Value created profit. A lot of profit.

When it comes to business, there’s an entire branch dedicated toward convincing people that the product is valuable. Marketing is founded on this premise: you should spend money (give us profit) because we’ll give you value. And it works.

People like value. People flock to value. People pay for value.

This isn’t just for business owners. The principle is much, much more basic than that. Understanding and emphasizing value is the crux of all achievement by anyone, not just for a business operator.

Creators Eventually Succeed

A creator who works as a webmaster who has a website is constantly adding valuable content to his website. This in turn will cause other webmasters to link to his website, which generates traffic, which causes more links — you see the point. Considering traffic means money, that’s success.

A creator who works as a grocery stocker is constantly analyzing how the organization of the store-rooms is done, looking for ways to add value to the system. The stocker will be promoted because people who promote value help the company. The higher he goes, the more profit the company makes.

A creator who works in an office discovers more efficient ways to use the technology and actually “get things done”…within reason.* With such efficiency more opportunities and resume’ builders will come along. Remember, the more you get accomplished while at work, the more responsibility you can take on. This is long-term prep for a job transfer.

Creators can’t help but succeed. If they’re workers, they’ll become managers. If they’re managers, they’ll become owners. If they’re associates, they’ll become partners.

Become a Creator

Want to do well? Become a creator. Becoming a creator is outlandishly difficult; it requires completely throwing off the typical “worker mentality” and replacing it with the philosophy of achievement. Read below for tips on how you can start looking at the world through the eyes of a creator.

Don’t Watch the Clock. Have you ever been to a store that closed a few minutes early, because the manager stepped out and the employees wanted to quit a bit early? The employees might think they are acting selfishly and are getting what they want. They aren’t.

The “clock-watcher” mentality is the anti-thesis of the creator. The creator goes to work for the ability to add value as habit, not to work just long enough to run out the door the moment the clock strikes five.

Keep Your Eyes Open. There are always dozens of ways that we end up wasting time and doing thing inefficiently. The key to creating a more productive workplace in order to free up time and get noticed by superiors is to constantly look for those flaws. You know they’re there; what are they?

Do Something Weird. Weird things can save time and create “something from nothing.” I once found out a friend wanted a website designed, so I volunteered to do it for $250, about half of what she was prepared to pay. She was delighted, of course, and I promised to have it done within 24 hours.

One small glitch: I don’t know how to design websites. So I Googled “outsource web design” and found an incredibly professional firm that agreed to do it for $75. Within 24 hours I made $175 because of 3 emails. In a few days I’ll be talking about outsourcing, so make sure to subscribe so you can read it; outsourcing can literally change your life.

Be the Best. Nearly every work-force has different levels of workers. The better and more knowledgeable the worker, the more likely that worker will be seen as the leader. Be the best, get the best.

Give Up Lunch Hour. If you spend an hour every single day brainstorming how you can find away to build a passive income source (I’ll be writing more about this as time goes on) you’ll find one eventually. If you spend an hour every single day in conversation with your significant other, you’ll build an incredibly stronger relationship.

Want to learn the guitar? An hour a day is more than enough time. Want to build a high-traffic website? Five hours per week is more than enough time as long as you don’t hurry. (I’ll be writing more about building a high-traffic website business later on!)

An hour every day is a lot of time. Over a year, it’s hundreds of hours. Over a lifetime, it’s literally months of potentially pure productive action. Don’t waste your lunch hour just mindlessly munching; find a way to turn that hour into something productive. The results will be nearly instantaneous.

You can eat and achieve at the same time.

The Results of Productivity

My father is one of the greatest success inspirations I ever hope to have. He’s been the master of getting “little things” constantly done so he has time for the “big things.” He married my mother when he was 19 and broke. They worked on discovering productive ways to get things done ever since.

I didn’t come up with the above ideas; my father lived them. He moved from the DJ of a small AM radio station to the manager of all of the radio stations in the area in just a few years. He now owns his own radio incorporation known by nearly everyone as being the most professional “get it done” business in the state.

There are literally millions of individuals who have done the same. I have yet to meet a self-made millionaire who didn’t succeed in the same manner. Learn to be a creator and create your own success.

Related posts:

1. Save Money or Make Money?
2. 5 Reasons You Should Get Rich
3. Rethinking College, a Series of Articles

I’ll be challenging this view while showing that the numbers often just don’t add up. For a lot of kids, going to college is the worst thing they can do, regardless of the tired and overused social cliché. This is the first part of a three-part series on a rational approach to getting a college education and preparing for success.

Below are the titles of forthcoming articles here at Smart Personal Development.

• Is College Overrated?
• Don’t Go Into Debt for College
• 7 Ways to Get College Money
• Go to College for the Education

Note: I’m not a college naysayer. I’m actually enrolled with a state college, studying business, and marketing. I’m absolutely loving it, and would probably pay my way even if there was no future financial incentive. So what’s my point about college? It’s one that can save you thousands, whether you are a student or a parent. To read the articles, just subscribe below, and I’ll make sure you get the guides.

Related posts:

1. Don’t Go Into Debt for College
2. Most Don’t Need a College Degree
3. Personal Development Articles

Legendary “Pistol Pete” set dozens of college and NBA records in scoring; he averaged what would now be nearly 60 points per game while playing college ball. In 2005, ESPNU named Maravich the all-time greatest college basketball player. Pete was an incredible showman, famous for his crazy shots, flagrant passes, and crazy dribbling.

“The Pistol” died tragically at the young age of 40 due to a heart failure just a few years after retiring.

The biggest lesson we can learn from Pistol Pete isn’t specifically about basketball. It’s about how we can use the same principles of incredible hard work, fantastic amounts of passion and mastering the fundamentals to achieve success in our own lives.

The story of Pistol Pete is one of the most powerful stories one can read about achievement. By modeling after those character traits, you can succeed as well. Anyone can.

Passion, Obsession and Achievement

Pistol Pete’s first year of basketball was replayed through the docudrama The Pistol: The Birth of a Legend. The movie revealed what Pete was like at the start and ended up becoming a classic for people around the world who who aren’t afraid to chase their dreams, however lofty those dreams might sound.

Some would say that Pete was obsessed when he was a teenager, spending at least 6-10 hours every day practicing, running, dribbling, eating and drinking basketball. His passion for the sport meant he couldn’t live like a normal teenager. He even said later:

“I would spend six to ten hours there. I remember stopping after several hours and starting to cry. I went over to a corner and started asking myself questions. ‘Other kids are out swimming and playing. Why am I here? Why do I have this desire? Why am I killing myself?’”

This passion was the driving force behind everything he did. Without such passion, he never would have made it. With it, there was nothing that could stop him.

Hard Work: The Art of Achievement

Spending dozens of hours every week running and training was an incredible physical strain to Pete, as anyone with experience in even normal levels of sports can attest. Some accused his success in college as being a simple result of the fact that his father was the head coach, suggesting that he was simply given his success. As absurd as the claim was, Pete still replied:

“Sure Dad taught me everything he knew. But he didn’t practice for me. How could he? And that was the hard part. All the practicing.”

The Pistol even went so far as to tell other young adults later in life, “You’re wasting your lives if you don’t settle down and work, work, work.” He’s right. If you have a dream, or a goal, or often imagine what the perfect lifestyle is, yet don’t work at achieving that dream, you’re wasting precious time.

The fundamental principle of success is to be not just a dreamer or a worker, but both a dreamer and a worker.

Without dreams, there’s no point in working. Without work, there’s no point in dreaming.

This doesn’t mean that the meaning of life is found in the work itself. The meaning of life is found through the achievement of your personal values. I’ll write more about this later.

The Basics: Aim Low, Achieve High

Becoming successful requires mastering the basics. Whether you want to master your diet, business, money, health, or anything else, you have to achieve a little before you can achieve a lot.

Pete didn’t start off with behind-the-back passes when he was younger. He worked his way up to that level, first mastering the basics of dribbling, shooting and passing. He started with the fundamentals, and ended as one of the greats.

You have to walk before you run.

The same principle goes for every realm of achievement. There are hundreds of blogs that exist for people who want to make money online, filled with advanced tactics and tricks for making an extra buck with a blog or website.

Sadly, most of the people who gobble up the information are missing the fundamentals of success, looking for the latest trick. The fundamentals of making money online are: build links, and write content. It’s literally that simple.

Lesson to be learned: never move on to the “advanced” tactics in anything before you are ready. Be an expert at the first-level stuff, and there’s no way you can’t be kept down.

Concluding Thoughts

If you have an ultimate goal for your life, there’s nothing wrong with being passionate about getting there. Working outrageously hard is one of the only sure-fire ways of achieving what you want in life.

Don’t allow yourself to be held back simply because you weren’t willing to work hard. Sweat now, laugh later — the motto of the successful.

Don’t get sidetracked with the advanced tips and gimmicks of any occupation before you master the fundamentals. Achievement is found in achieving the fundamentals. Advanced tactics are only for the advanced. You have to earn your way there before you can use the tactics.

Remember, some people dream of success — others wake up and work hard at it.

Related posts:

1. Self-Improvement 101
2. The Creator Personality
3. Rethinking College, a Series of Articles