As we look at starting businesses, getting jobs, changing professions or even choosing a school, the question, "What's in it for me?", is usually one of the first questions we ask ourselves. Rightfully so, as we all have bills to pay, etc. However, today I want to focus on looking a little deeper than the obvious.

We asked a few questions in our previous Rebel Way posts regarding why we do what we do in our chosen career fields and will continue to ask a few more this week. As a recap, the first question asked was, "do we do what we do for the people or for the money?"; the second question, "why do we become repeat customers with some businesses and not others? Both of these questions seem to have simple answers, the first - If you care more about the people than you do about the money, the money will come. The second - when you operate in integrity and honesty, the customers will come. SIMPLE.

Todays, question, 'What's in it for me?', has a mirrored, opposite question, "What's in it for 'you'?" As much as we all need the answer to 'what's in it for me' when we're pursuing our goals and future prosperity, many of us fail to take that look in the mirror and ask what we have to offer to our potential employers, customers and, of course, all the relationships in our life, professionally and personally. If you've never stopped to ask yourself what's in it for them, perhaps today's the day to do that.

Most of us can rattle off our accolades - our degrees, accomplishments, where we've worked, etc. but I wonder how many of us have actually sat down and pondered the simple questions above. WHY did we decide to open a business - what do we have to offer that makes us stand out in our careers? As much as our qualifications matter, i.e. if I'm applying to be a mechanical engineer and have a degree in liberal arts, obviously I'm applying for the wrong job. But what about those things; caring for people, honesty and integrity and now, this week, I'm adding consistency?

The essential meaning of consistency is "the quality or fact of staying the same at different times" which is pretty self-evident, but not so easily implemented all the time. When we write down our answers as to "what's in it for them?" - consistency should be another arrow in our quiver for hitting the mark of excellence in our businesses and jobs. Can our customers and employers count on us? (This question requires us to answer, do we care about the people we serve?). Are we on time when we have a schedule to keep? Can our peers depend on us to tell the truth and stand for what we believe to be right even when it's not "popular"? (These questions require the answer of integrity). Are we the same in public as we are in private? Would your loved ones or your employer be willing to "go to the wall" for you because they know you are trustworthy even in small things - they also know they can depend on your words and actions being consistent ALL THE TIME?

I'd like to submit to you that, if you honestly examine yourself and learn the qualities of excellence you have to offer the people in your day-to-day life, you will also learn the qualities that make you THE BEST person for whatever your life pursuits are!

If caring for others rather than just "looking out for number one" hasn't been a part of your character; if integrity and honesty have only been catchy buzz words in your resume`; if consistency has not been an attribute in your life; I would also like to submit to you that today is the perfect day to make a new commitment to achieving personal excellence and changing the course of your life.

I'll warn you ahead if time - if you've fallen for the false narrative that you have to do whatever it takes, even if that means being dishonest or stepping on someone else, to get ahead, your next steps will be a little harder to take. If you've thought that living up to what you say really doesn't matter because "everyone does it", it will take discipline and a true desire to be the best you can be to make small steps to the better place you want to be.

Famously, (and probably irritatingly) I tell people all the time, "it doesn't take much to be nothing". The truth is, we all miss the mark, there is no pill or one-hit wonder to hit the bullseye - if we choose to become the excellence that stands the test of time, we must do the work that goes along with the journey. At the end of the day, however, for those who choose to operate in these principals CONSISTENTLY, the long-term rewards, both personally and also financially, far out-weigh the short-term successes. It's never in the things you do SOME of the time that your foundation becomes strong - it's in the things you do MOST of the time that becomes your true character.

So, what IS in it for you? Only you have that answer.

And that's the Rebel Way today.

by: CAT MacPhee