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6 Steps To Your Personal Treasure
I used to work for a large office supplies company. Like a lot
of companies, there would be the dreaded annual event of stock
taking to look forward to. It was a time of all hands on deck.
It made no difference what your position was, we all had a part
to play in counting out and recording each item of stock held in
the warehouse. People would be found in dark corners counting
everything from thermal sealing devices to staples.
From time to time, a quantity of certain items would be
discovered as either not on the original list or simply
obsolete. For the bargain hunter, this was good because it meant
they were no longer required by the company and were to be
tossed out. Many a worker would go home with their pockets
stuffed with pens or cars loaded with printer paper! All
perfectly legitimate I would add!
Have you noticed how people love bargains? Everywhere you go,
you find events like clearance sales, summer sales, January
sales, clearouts, garage sales, jumble sales, second-hand stores
(thrift stores in the U.S.)., etc., etc., Why is that? Why are
some of us quite prepared to queue for hours, fight for a good
position, jostle with others over the bargain of the day? It
could of course, be simply to do with saving money, but perhaps
a better concept would be that within the hope of identifying
something of value, you have to give little in return.
Gambling is a similar concept. People place their money in a
position where they feel they will get something for nothing (or
little outlay). We seem to be a world of treasure hunters each
seeking for our gold reward.
The ClubYesterday I received my monthly issue of MONEY magazine. This issue has the special ..... An interesting thing though, regarding treasure hunting, is that
there is a considerable amount of work involved. Let`s give some
simple modern day examples of that:
Jumble Sales/Bazaars/Garage Sales/conventional shop/store sales
and fetes all have similar requirements If you want the
treasures or the bargains, you need to be somewhere up front in
the queue. You need re-enforcements too! The way to play it is
that the chief buyer of the group has to take point (as they say
in the military), with ideally at least two assistants that
cover the rear. Why? So that the minute those doors open, those
guarding the rear can ensure they block the way of others coming
up from the back of the queue cannot get past! Once through the
doors, it is a similar tactic. The chief buyer goes to the table
or stall where the treasures are to be found, whilst the rear
guard (three are better for this), form a semi circle around the
buyer from behind, to make sure they are not jostled out of
position by the use of pushing, elbows, and carefully positioned
umbrella points! All this after having been queuing to get in
(in all weathers) for up to an hour before it starts! In fact,
for some store/shop sales, it is not at all unusual for a small
camping site queue to develop right outside the front of the
store a day or two in advance!
Secondhand or thrift stores are different. This is more about
tactics than the almost all out warefare of the previous
treasure hunting variety. You could be well rewarded if you
could work out when the main delivery days are from the store`s
distribution base. Some deliveries are made straight to the
store of course. If you are really keen to be the first to sift
through the latest load, then you too might find yourself
queuing before the store opens. Once inside, occasionally, the
point/flank tactics can be useful.
Other kinds of treasure hunting include walking around with
something akin to a walking stick pointing at an angle toward
the ground and a handleless frying pan attached to the bottom of
it. The owner can be seen trundling along beaches and muddy
fields in the hope of seeking some long lost artefact or at
least some small change that was once the lost content of a
child`s pocket money. Or if they are really lucky, a 1000 watch
that had fallen from a beach towel! I have always rather fancied
trying it myself to see what I might discover in my local park!
(It`s around 100 miles to the nearest beach!)
What had to be undergone however, before that stage of freedom
to help themselves to things that they perceived to be of value
could occur? Effort. All in all, treasure hunting or seeking
something of value, of any kind takes effort. A lot of that
effort involves stress and anxiety, some is just plain
persistence, motivation and energy. Somewhere in there from time
to time, you will also find that not so good ingredient
disappointment.
To get back to the title of this article (6 Steps To Your
Personal Treasure in case you have forgotten!), let`s take a
quick look at what a good offer or bargain would consist of. How
about this description: A bargain offer would be the
presentation of an item that required less expenditure without
loss of quality. How does that sound? Fair? I want to break
that down a little further. As the potential buyer of such an
offer, what would it take for the item to be important to you
and worth pursuing? Here is a short list of random things I feel
might be valid. Please feel free to make your own list if you
like:
1.I must see it as having value to me or to a person I wish to
give it to. 2.It must not require as much expenditure as normal.
3.In must not require any more effort to obtain than I am
prepared or able to apply.
Okay, so we have identified what a clearance offer might consist
of, now let`s take a look at what might prevent us from winning
such a prize:
1.Someone else might beat us to the prize. 2.It might require
more effort from us than we are prepared to apply. 3.We might
make a mistake in perceiving its value to us or to the person
you wish to give it to. 4.The quality may not be that which we
perceived it to be.
How would you feel if you could have all the opposition removed
i.e. if all those potential problems did not exist? Relieved?
Excited? Something similar? Of course you would, and you would
have your valuable item your treasure. If that is what you
want what you truly want, you can do it. You can start
collecting your treasures together. I suppose you would like to
know how now? Okay, here are the steps to direct access to your
identified treasures:
Stalking Alligators In FloridaAlligators were the furthest thing from our minds as my wife Ana and I traveled along the coast of northern Florida. .....
STEP 1: Recognize what you consider to be treasure. STEP 2: Know
where to find it take some form of guide if necessary. STEP 3:
Protect yourself using appropriate tactics as you make your way
toward your treasure. STEP 4: Pay the price for the treasure
STEP 5: Keep the treasure secure STEP 6: Apply the treasure in
the most productive way
Let`s look at those steps a little more closely.
STEP 1: Recognize what you consider to be treasure. This is all
about values. What might be of value to one person, might not be
of such great value to someone else. To use a personal example,
I am quite religious, so the Bible and other scriptures are very
important to me. These are treasures to me. To someone who is
not religious, they may well be considered simply as historic
books. There are many analogies that could be used. There are
things taken for granted by some people, but are the key to life
itself for others. Take water for example. I turn on the tap and
drink, wash, etc. I`m quite sure you know of places where if
there is water, it is unfit for use. Recognize your treasure
what it is that has value to you. Life is not just about money
and financial profit.
STEP 2: Know where to find it. Take a guide if necessary. The
treasure maps of old where not like the route planners of today
that get you from place to place with every turn indicated. They
were deliberately vague and calculated to only be interpreted by
the privileged few. You need to know where your treasure is
otherwise you will not be able to access it. Obvious stuff
really, but someone had to say it! Actually is it obvious? It
will certainly be a lot more obvious if you have got step 1
right.
STEP 3: Protect yourself using appropriate tactics as you make
your way toward your treasure. There`s competition out there.
Those things that are valuable to you may possibly be unique to
you, but that doesn`t stop other people and organizations from
trying to take those values from you and replace them with their
own. Letting your guard down would allow this to happen, So how
do you do this? The story goes of a tree that produced valuable
fruit. The only way to reach that tree and its fruit was to
tread a narrow path through an area that was difficult to see
through. With opposing forces trying to divert the seeker of
such fruit, it was all to easy to lose their way. Fortunately,
alongside this path was an iron rail. All the seeker had to do
was hold tight to that rail and follow it. That is what you need
to do, discover your strengths and hold on to them as you seek
for your treasure. Do not be diverted. Constantly remind
yourself of your purpose.
STEP 4: Pay The Price For The Treasure. For a ship to set sail
in search of treasure, do you suppose it is free to do so? What
about paying the men? You might say that the discovery of the
treasure is payment enough. Perhaps so, but what of the
sustenance for these men as they journey? What of the cost in
terms of time and materials? What of sacrifices that may have to
be made that will enable both the journey and the discovery to
Bread In The WoodsWe really like fresh bread while were camping. There is something about bread products that ..... be made? You can have anything you want in this world, as long
as you are prepared to pay the price.
STEP 5: Keep the treasure secure. Nearly every pirate film I
have seen where there is the discovery of treasure involved,
there seems to be a very insecure process of gathering and
storing the treasure. The pirates tend to launch themselves at
with delirious attention. They don`t seem to care what is
dropped along the way. They virtually leave a trail in their
wake. The treasure chests are loaded with almost equal abandon.
You could argue that with so much treasure why should they
worry? The point I am making is that whatever is lost or left
behind, someone else is likely to gather. How important is your
treasure your set of values? Can you afford to let some of
them slide away from you? Can you afford to not be particularly
concerned about your values if they fall along the way?
STEP 6: Apply the treasure in the most productive way. Sticking
with our pirate analogy, what inevitably would pirates do with
the treasure they gathered? Do you think they would simply eat
from gold plates, drink from gold cups etc., for the rest of
their lives? To some extent, they would, but a good proportion
would be melted down and turned into gold bullion as it would be
easier to distribute and exchange. To the pirate, the beauty and
workmanship of the articles would not be kept and admired
except perhaps by some or for a short while.
Your treasure your values have a purpose. They declare who you
are the essence of your character. How you apply those values
in your everyday life not only formulates the existence of your
choice, but also affects others around you especially those
close to you. Your example can help others to secure their own
treasure.
So what have we discovered here? What have we learned?
Personally, as I have put this together, it has consolidated my
thinking in three areas. Maybe it has done the same for you:
1)The real treasures of life are not material things. 2)My
values are amongst my greatest treasures because they formulate
my life and affect the lives of others. 3)You have to work not
just to build or obtain values, but also to keep them.
Values the treasure not kept in a chest, but in the heart.
About the author:
The author, Professional Life Coach, Doug Harvey, changes
peoples lives by helping them discover self-worth and clearing
away the fog of life that sometimes restricts their view. Doug
particularly helps those who have reached a stage of uncertainty
in their lives and need to take control. To download two FREE
chapters from his latest ebook, Take Control Of Your Life,
click here :-> http://www.lifesight.net
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