What do valuable talents in the eyes of the boss look like? IBM founder: If you want to be promoted, first double your "error rate"

A long time ago, an apprentice and his master were talking about work and results. There was a question that particularly troubled the apprentice: What is the key to determining the level of income?

The master pointed to a tree and asked the apprentice: "What is this?"

"A fig tree," replied the apprentice.

The master continued to ask: "Does it bear fruit?"

The student was a little confused about this question, but he still answered: "No, although it is summer now, it does not bear fruit."

The master continued: "Then this is a useless tree and has no right to stay with us. garden. Please uproot it."

Who determines our income? Many of us have the wrong idea about who pays us in the end - the answer is the demander.

Another way to put it is the market, where we are compensated based on our contribution to the market.

Although there are always people who claim that they are worth much more than their current income, it's up to you to prove that this is true. In fact, the market pays everyone exactly what he is worth, and only you can decide how much you deserve.

Rewards are made up of activities that "generate income"

Take economic value, for example. Economic value is always related to any form of results.

After all, only when results are produced will people be willing to pay. No one will be willing to pay for ineffective well-intentioned help or failed attempts. "I'm sorry" and various excuses for failure cannot be paid. W. Clement Stone, an American entrepreneur who made his fortune in the insurance industry in the 20th century. He said: "As a professional, I have become accustomed to judging people only by the results they achieve. Results are more convincing than any beautiful words."

Do you want to make more money? Then you must achieve more results to increase your value in the market. The best way to achieve this goal is to focus on activities that "generate income."

As early as the end of the 19th century, Italian economist Pareto discovered that 80% of people's income comes from 20% of activities. This means that many people waste 80% of their time, or at least don't use it effectively.

So, what is the magic 20% of time that can bring us 80% of the results?

How many door-to-door salespeople end up becoming clowns in consumers' living rooms because they don't dare to ask critical ordering questions? How many employees spend a lot of time just to create a more perfect filing system? How many bosses spend their time on tasks that are actually supposed to be done by their employees? While doing these things, you are sacrificing time to do the work that can actually bring in sales and profits.

Winners spend 80% of their time on activities that actually generate income, which is why they effectively increase productivity.

Winner's Key to Success: Take Action

Every job has a few defining tasks—these few specific tasks that make the difference in your final income and deserve our full attention. Surprisingly, income-generating tasks are often not too difficult. You may even be able to tell that the winner is not very good at extremely difficult tasks but is very good at certain simple tasks. The most important of which is this: winners actually take action!

Are you also constantly asking yourself: What must I do more often if I want to make more money? Whatever the answer is, do it! What is it that prevents most people from spending 80% of their time on activities that can bring in income? It's the fear of failure.

There are two reasons for failure: one is that we made a mistake and we are the key to the failure; the other is that we are unable to achieve the expected results, but the reason is not us, but that it is simply impossible to do. A closer look at these two causes of failure reveals that for many people, either one requires a great deal of courage. Because usually most people think that failure is immutable.

The key to safety: SINALOA

SINALOA is important behind every success. SINALOA is the abbreviation of a sentence: "Safety In Numbers And Law Of Average", which means almost: The secret of safety is between numbers and the law of large numbers.

Pick up a die and roll it only once, the number you get is a matter of luck. Even if you roll 10 times, it's still a matter of luck. But after accumulating 150 times, the law of large numbers will gradually form. The more times you throw the number, the more likely it is that each number will appear.

Success in business should not depend on luck. Therefore, there is only one way to ensure success: the more actions you take, the more the law of large numbers will become.

As the repetitions increase, you will gradually master this activity. Whatever the key "income-generating" tasks in your job are, you have to do them more often. This is the only effective way to ensure success. Everything else is like a gambling game.

Continuously making mistakes also means that you are constantly growing.

Another reason that holds many people back from doing income-producing activities more often is the fear of making mistakes.

This is why we should correctly understand the meaning of "making mistakes" itself: making mistakes is an important foundation for growth. There is no shame in making mistakes, as long as they are "new" mistakes. We should learn from every single mistake and try not to repeat them as much as possible.

Only those who try nothing will not make mistakes - this is the mentality we should have when facing new mistakes. Because as long as you do it, you will inevitably make mistakes, and therefore, making mistakes is a symbol of hard learning. From this perspective, making mistakes is actually a good thing.

IBM founder's secret to success: Double your error rate!

IBM founder Thomas J. Watson was once asked what he had to do if he wanted to be promoted within the IBM group.

Watson replied: "What he has to do is double his error rate." Watson understood that only those who can put aside the fear of making mistakes and being rejected can start more income-generating activities. Especially when trying to create special achievements, people are more likely to make mistakes. If you're afraid of making mistakes or being embarrassed, you won't achieve great results.

Successes bring affirmation and wealth, mistakes do not—at least at first. But mistakes have a critical impact on our growth, because mistakes bring experience. More experience helps us make better decisions, which in turn can bring us new successes.

Therefore, from a personal growth perspective, making mistakes is as important as succeeding. A person who never makes a mistake is depriving himself of the opportunity to learn and continue to grow.

Winners identify activities that bring them income and spend the most time in them. Winners believe in SINALOA. Even if they don't like making mistakes and failing, winners will never let this mentality stop them from moving forward.