“The amount of money you make will always be in direct proportion to: number one, the demand for what you do; number two, your ability to do it; and number three, the difficulty of replacing you”

–Earl Nightingale

OK, I will be the first one to admit: Being irreplaceable is not just linked to being, but also to doing stemming from the full knowledge of the ‘being’! You already know that we are not “Human Doings”. We are first of all “Human Beings” who do stuff.

Now…

What you do is different from what I do.

What you love is different from what I love.

What you are good at could be different from what I am good at.

What you are passionate about could be different from what I am passionate about.

What you are skilled at could be different from what I am skilled at.

You get the picture. We are all different.

However…

Our differences come from the same root: the root of being. That is why I have already said that being irreplaceable has a major function of knowing and studying your difference. That way, you tend to focus on the things that you love to do, the things that you are passionate about, the things you are equipped to do. Now, also notice that you could be equipped to do things that you have no passion on them…but I am going ahead of myself.

Let us do a recap here:

How to become irreplaceable:

 1. Know the Meaning of ‘Irreplaceable’

2. Study Your Difference

3. Conquer Yourself

4. Know Who Your Audience is

Today’s post will focus on performance. There are those top performers and then there are the average ones. Of course there are also the mediocre ones. The question that we need to answer to day is this:

What is the differentiating factor between the top performers and the mediocre performers?

I am glad you asked.

Partly, the answer is found in step two above. However, this further step of being irreplaceable is as critical as any, because very many people get trapped in it:

5. Know What You Are Poor at

I think one of the biggest revelations (but it’s rather obvious yet mightily overlooked), is the fact that we cannot do all things! OK,I know, that is contrary to scripture that says, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me”- Philippians 4:13. However, if you look at the context in which that scripture was written, you will realize that the subject matter here was not necessarily in ‘doing’ but in ‘living’. Paul, one sample of an irreplaceable soul even though he writes as already indicated, you would not find him meddling in anything and everything.

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me”- Philippians 4:13. However, if you look at the context in which that scripture was written, you will realize that the subject matter here was not necessarily in ‘doing’ but in ‘living’. Paul, one sample of an irreplaceable soul even though he writes as already indicated, you would not find him meddling in anything and everything.

He was specialized. He had a specific target. He had a specific task. However when it came to eking out a living, Paul said that he had been broke and rich at different times. He says that he learnt the secret of being filled and going hungry while keeping on dispensing his most noble task: Preaching the Gospel. And boy did he preach!!

If more than 20% of what you focus on every day in order to perform or dispense your duties is what you are poor at, then chances of you being irreplaceable become very slim. You will find it difficult to be successful. The following are some things that you need to understand as to why knowing what you are poor at is important:

• Knowing Your weaknesses does not mean that you are a failure. However, depending on your weaknesses to succeed most certainly makes you a failure eventually.
• Progress in becoming the best of yourself and fulfilling your potential is thoroughly delayed if your main focus is using your weaknesses to succeed
• You can get more knowledge in what you are not good at (but still do hate it). More knowledge in alleviating a weakness does not help. That is why all the people that are going back to school to get one more degree or a Masters need to re-evaluate if they are going to strengthen a weakness or to exploit their potential more. Very critical.

To be Irreplaceable:

1. Have a clear knowledge of not only what you are good at, but also what you are bad at
2. Document all the things about you such as: Titles eg Programmer; Jobs eg “Line Manager”; Functions eg “Leader”, “Wife”, “Husband”, etc; and the activities under each of these.
3. Differentiate between the activities that depend on your weaknesses and those that depend on your strengths
4. Find someone who is good at doing these activities (Except the activities under your functions of husband, wife, leader etc)
5. Concentrate on what you are really good at 80% of the time
6. Up your skills in activities relating to what your functions such as wife, husband, leader etc on what you are performing below par
7. Understand that at times in life, you might have to go through situations where you have to do the things that you are bad at in order to move forward. And that is just it, after you have moved forward, revert back to what you are always good at.

The bottom line is this: The more you keep doing what you are bad at, and what you are not passionate about, the more you create weaknesses, dissatisfaction and disillusionment in life. You might not have enough years in your life to bank on your weaknesses in order to become irreplaceable! [Tweet That]