{"id":1480,"date":"2021-10-20T14:40:03","date_gmt":"2021-10-20T18:40:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/paulsyng.com\/blog\/?p=1480"},"modified":"2021-10-20T15:12:06","modified_gmt":"2021-10-20T19:12:06","slug":"the-power-of-contrast-and-self-value","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/paulsyng.com\/blog\/the-power-of-contrast-and-self-value\/","title":{"rendered":"The Power of Contrast and Self-Value"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed alignwide is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Power of contrast and valuing yourself\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/M80clnkYz0Y?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Today, I would like to jump right into the topic of self-value. A while back, I was going through Twitter, as you do, and I came across a tweet from <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/blairenns\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Blair Enns<\/a> that said, and I\u2019m paraphrasing: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote alignwide\"><blockquote><p>\u201cIf you\u2019re not willing to pay for value, then you can\u2019t learn how to value-price effectively.\u201d <\/p><cite><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/blairenns\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Blair Enns<\/a><\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>That got me thinking about the power of contrast and self-value, so I want to explore that topic with you today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Why Is It So Important to Value Yourself?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The first thing I\u2019d like to say about self-value is that how you value yourself is the same way you value others. If you don\u2019t value your time, you won\u2019t value anyone else\u2019s time either. For creatives, independent freelancers, and artists of all kinds it is very difficult to see your own value and even fostering that value in the first place can be extremely challenging.<br><br>However, it\u2019s so important that you learn to value yourself and your time sooner rather than later. The lack of self-value creates the kind of inner conflict that keeps you from realizing your full potential. Once you sort out that conflict, you won\u2019t hesitate to ask for more money when you\u2019re working on freelance projects. We see this all over the freelance market; people don\u2019t feel confident enough to ask for the remuneration that they are worth.<br><br>Why? Because they don\u2019t value themselves, their time, or their skills enough to confidently price their services or product as they should. It is very important to spend time self-reflecting, looking inward, and honing in on how you value yourself and how others value you. It is also important to understand your relationship with yourself and with time because it\u2019s such a finite resource.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Get Invested in Something Greater Than Your Ego<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>There\u2019s another tweet that got me thinking and this one is from <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/workforfood\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Diego Zambrano<\/a>, one of my subscribers. In the tweet, he talked about how \u201creal friends are the ones who stick around when you\u2019re happy; the ones who disappear were feeding on your misery.\u201d He also provided great advice for people who want to be happy in saying that they should \u201cattach their ego to a higher purpose than themselves.\u201d There\u2019s a lot of truth to that.<br><br>When you\u2019re working on something new that goes against what\u2019s expected, whether that\u2019s building a new business, starting a YouTube channel, or whatever project you have in mind, you\u2019ll notice that a lot of people around you won\u2019t support you like you thought they would and you will actually find that support in strangers.<br><br>That often happens because you are going on a new path and the people around you are stuck in their ways, so it\u2019s difficult for them to come to terms with you taking steps forward while they are glued to the same spot. Of course, this is not all black and white. There\u2019s a lot of nuances involved! The type of value you offer has to also be relevant to the people&#8217;s attention you crave! See <a href=\"https:\/\/hbr.org\/2016\/09\/the-elements-of-value\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">value pyramid.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Have a Healthy Competition With Yourself<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Another tweet that truly got me thinking comes from <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/shl\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Sahil<\/a>, and he said: \u201cCompeting with yourself is the ultimate positive-sum game.\u201d This got me thinking about how we often fall into the comparison trap. We look at the best version of other people, which is what they show to the world, and we compare it to our version of ourselves, which is still under construction.<br><br>You may be having a rough time and then you go on social media and see all these people living the perfect life. That automatically makes you feel defeated and bad about yourself. However, you have no idea what those people are struggling with because that\u2019s not what they show you. That\u2019s something you have to keep in perspective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Importance of Contrast<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Contrast is everything in life; black and white, sweet and salty, day and night, cold and warm. As human beings, our senses operate from contrast and everything we enjoy has contrast.<br><br>For example, there\u2019s a big difference between eating something that has the perfect balance of sweet and savoury and eating something overly sweet and has no nuance to it. Which one do you enjoy more? It\u2019s often the former because it has contrast.<br><br>That is true for everything in life. Contrast is always present and it\u2019s what makes things interesting. You can use the power of contrast in your thinking and day-to-day life to make everything so much better. Learn to hack it and you will see a big difference in your career and your life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignfull size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/paulsyng.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/11-Jan-1024x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1483\" srcset=\"https:\/\/paulsyng.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/11-Jan-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/paulsyng.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/11-Jan-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/paulsyng.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/11-Jan-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/paulsyng.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/11-Jan-1536x1536.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/paulsyng.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/11-Jan-2048x2048.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/paulsyng.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/11-Jan-1200x1200.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/paulsyng.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/11-Jan-1980x1980.jpg 1980w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption>View this NFT art on Opensea <a href=\"https:\/\/opensea.io\/assets\/0x495f947276749ce646f68ac8c248420045cb7b5e\/55927887200100597258076349041402287829510124298460847205081332057071572484097\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">here<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Follow and bookmark this blog post as a <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/paulsyng\/status\/1450898358575509510?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Twitter thread here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Today, I would like to jump right into the topic of self-value. A while back, I was going through Twitter, as you do, and I came across a tweet from Blair Enns that said, and I\u2019m paraphrasing: \u201cIf you\u2019re not willing to pay for value, then you can\u2019t learn how to value-price effectively.\u201d Blair Enns [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1480","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-syng"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/paulsyng.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1480","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/paulsyng.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/paulsyng.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paulsyng.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paulsyng.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1480"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/paulsyng.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1480\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1486,"href":"https:\/\/paulsyng.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1480\/revisions\/1486"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/paulsyng.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1480"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paulsyng.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1480"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paulsyng.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}