The Art of Leverage

I'm going to tell you a little secret. Pay close attention; this secret is vital to your success.

You can't get wealthy without other people.

Let's face it. None of us lives in a vacuum. We live in societies and are defined by the relationships we build with others. Sure, you could go out and live in the woods all by yourself, not depending upon a single soul. Are you taking any supplies with you? No, that's cheating -- most of those supplies were only made possible by others. Even if you grow your own food and sow your own clothes, the tools you used in doing so were provided by other people.

The fact is that we depend upon others to survive and even the most capable of mountain men would fail were he to accept the challenge of living entirely independently in the woods without help from nary a soul. Mere survival is absolutely dependent on social cooperation of some sort. Why is it, then, that people believe that they can become wealthy and successful entirely on their own?

Leverage. Leverage is one of the main tools that set the winners apart from the losers. Leverage is the ability to use the people around you and their resources to further your goals. I'm not, of course, talking about taking advantage of people. That'll only get you so far and you'll meet with failure long before you meet with success. Instead, you must learn the art of making mutually beneficial arrangements where both sides profit in the end.

Why bother with mundane tasks which you hate to do, aren't good at, and just eat up your time? Find ways to outsource such activities to others who are better at them and more efficient than you. Make it well worth their time. Do you lack the resources to pay them in money? Pay them in trade of services. Even better, build up the value of your own services by taking the time to develop your skills and allow others to leverage your talents towards their goals. Far from there being any shame in that, it is actually how you become successful in the first place! No one in the history of humanity has ever become wealthy or successful without offering some sort of service of a value highly perceived by the society around them. The more you have to offer, the more you will receive.

Leveraging utilizes networks. When you use the services of a person to complete a project, what you are actually tapping into is that person's network. When others use your services, they are tapping into yours. If you want to utilize an effective leveraging system, learn to recognize those that know how to leverage the talents of others in their own efforts. The cumulative effect on your own success will be exponential.

Leveraging others to take care of less-important activities which eat up your time frees you up to perfect your particular skill set. The other part of success is knowing how to hustle when it comes to the activities which you don't leverage. When I say hustle, by the way, I'm not talking about anything illegal -- this article at The Art of Manliness sums it up best -- The World Belongs to Those Who Hustle.

Hustle when it comes to what you're good at. Leverage individuals who have hustle and know how to leverage when it comes to things you're not good at. The abilities to leverage and hustle are what set successful individuals apart from those who are simply ordinary.