To make your skill a wealth-generating asset, treat it in terms of importance rather than urgency. In order for the asset to bring you a consistent income, you need to build it over time. Of all other investments, investing in yourself is the right thing to diligently work on. Simply because other investments are liable to the ups and downs of the market; be they investment in the stock market, real estate or even currencies. Working and developing your skills is the path that will make YOUvaluable. But the path is treacherous and tricky, for what’s urgent in your life deviates you from honing your skill day-in and day-out. The underlying deviation is being attached to your passion. Passion is not a destination to arrive at but rather an emotion that runs underneath all your actions – just like the operating system in your computer. Your skill must be inseparable from your passion.
Related: How Being The Best Takes Time And Practice
Following your passion blindly won’t turn your hobby into a paying profession. We start out in life being passionate about many things. We don’t have a problem spending our time immersed in some activities. But when we grow up, our elders start getting in the way and tell us that this obsession won’t make you a living. You love music and enjoy spending time reading and listening to the great musicians of all time. The pressure on you is more after graduation as you need to look for a job to gain a living. You are proceeding at work finely, still you feel something is missing; something is boiling inside. You reach a resolution of either sacrificing your profession or your hobby.
Your salvation comes when you consciously synchronize your hobby with your profession. Spend a quality time with your profession and a quantity time with your hobby. The 9-5 working hours must be devoted to focus single-mindedly on the work at hand. You will surely make use of the skills acquired at work to support your hobby afterwards. Your hobby will be developed over time by building on being an amateur at an early age. Your insistent and consistent practicing moves you to a higher level of professionality. Your highest level of mastery will be reached through internalizing the skills and gaining habits of success. What starts as a part-time pastime becomes full time obsession and fulfilment. It’s a natural and healthy bottom-up process that moves us from being amateurs, to practitioners to final mastery.
Maurizio Sarri was brought up in an Italian family that respects having a job rather than career. The young Maurizio was passionate about football, but his family pushed him to work in a bank after graduating from college. The passion for football runs simmering in his veins. After his 9-5 daily job at the bank, he spends the rest of his day watching football matches and attending the matches of his city-football team. After years of watching and studying football, he decided to go a step further beyond being an amateur. He managed to coach and train an amateur football team.
As Sarri allowed time to take its course, his vision starts to materialize. After succeeding with the amateur club, he won a reputation throughout Italy of a coach that transforms mediocre players to super stars. He took charge of coaching Napoli, a very-well known Italian team, and lifts it to compete against the giant Juventus F.C.. In 2018, Chelsea football club appointed him as the head coach where he wins the UEFA Europe League for the season 2018-2019. Strangely enough, Sarri started the professional career in the Italian League at the age of 54; He is now 60 years of age. Sarri is a living proof of the fact that passion and skills must co-exist. There is no conflict between the two. He believes that being patient and staying faithful to the process is a true mark of excellence.
Your skills are your asset that needs to be developed through daily practice. All other tangible assets are liable to constant fluctuations in today’s disruptive economy. Never take your skills for granted as they might become obsolete, unless developed and nurtured.
