Increase your earnings

“The starting point of all achievement is desire. Keep this constantly in mind. Weak desires bring weak results, just as a small amount of fire makes a small amount of heat. " Napoleon Hill

People are always talking about using their money wisely or saving it, likewise with resources, but do they? One of the biggest resources you have and one that can never be replaced with another is time. Think about it. If oil runs out we will be able to use something else to power our society.

You have 86, 400 seconds, or 1, 440 minutes, or 24 hours in a day, so what are you doing with them? Are you working harder, putting in overtime or working a second job in order to make the money you would like? Or are you looking at what would make you happy and spending time on that forgoing the pursuit of money because you do not want to or have enough for what you want in life.

People who work harder do not always get the promotions and the raises and if they do they reach a ‘glass ceiling’ once their education starts to fall behind. So how do you break that glass ceiling?

The first thing you have to understand is the game which is played within a/your company. If any of you played sports you had a play book and you had practices and you had team work, unless of course you were in an individual sport. But even then, in an individual sport, you had a coach, maybe a trainer, and other people on the team who you may not have played with against an opponent but they were there.

When I went into the service my father told me a few things about how it was before the war, WWII, and how lucky I was. Well most of the things he said would not happen anymore were unfortunately not true, but finding someone who knew the game kept me from reinventing the wheel thus avoiding a large number of mistakes. When I got out of the service a friend of mine who was a police officer told me to find myself a rabbi and to learn from that person.

Every business, sport or service has these people. People who know how the game is played and are willing to share it with you so learn from them. I am sure that people have seen that what is written in the ‘guidelines’ or promotions for the business you are in are not always true. That hard work and dedication do not always pay off and have seen someone who they thought would never get the promotion get one over you.

Instead of calling them a brown nose or whatever, look at how they got the promotion and follow their lead. Obviously there are plenty of ways to get promoted and some of the ways may not suit your personality, but then there is more than one way to get a promotion.

There are also going to be those people who have reached their glass ceiling after working hard their entire career, but can not seem to get ahead. They may even have to train their bosses in the job that they feel should be their. I worked with such a man who was lucky enough not only to have a friend who gave them good advise as to how to get that promotion, but was smart enough to give it a try.

You see we worked for a Swiss company that was very degree oriented and this man did not have the piece of paper. He started taking my bosses advice, completing his degree at night school and getting the promotion the next time the job opened up.

Now you can complain about the fact that you do not have that piece of paper or do something about it. Take a class at night, if you are reading this you can find accredited colleges that allow you to complete a degree at your pace. The University of Phoenix allows you to complete a class every five weeks. One of the ladies I worked with took these classes even though she already had a Master’s degree in the sciences and received her MBA just in time to get laid off, receive a severance package and get a new job within a month.

“Luck is where preparation and opportunity meet" Napoleon