What’s in it for me?
I’ve tried to establish how the thought process of “What’s in it for me?” (WIIFM) is important. Unless we are a parent looking out for our children (think about a mother bear with her cubs. She will fight to the death to protect her cubs), most of us consider ourselves first. I’m not talking about us being selfish here, like cutting in line at an event or taking too much food at a party buffet, but I’m talking about the human need to look out for our own best interests.
If you ponder
If you ponder (Note 1) for a minute your thoughts and actions during a typical day, I’ll bet you will find that almost all of them would be directed into actions that best serve you. Marketing and advertising professionals have long known this and that is why advertising is directed to you in this manner. They try to appeal to something important to you and your belief system that will be of benefit to you. Look, this is not something bad, it’s human nature to look out for ourselves first. On the other hand, there are those people who are selfless, humble people who look out for others before themselves. Military members who willingly die for their country, martyrs who stand on their Godly, Christian belief system. Clergy or other religious individuals, caregivers, or those who help the less fortunate. These folks have a special place in my heart. They probably do with you as well. I could go on about these wonderful people, but that’s not what I’m talking about here. However, if you want to best be able to help folks like these, and yourself at the same time, then you need to be able to reach a certain financial level so you can provide resources to them that you may not have today. Think about all the good work philanthropists do in your local community. I can tell you that here in Tulsa, OK where I live, we are blessed to have a lot of successful people who are, or have been, generous to others and the community. Now, lest you think I have forgotten that many people with little means do good by volunteering or sharing what modest means they have, this is not what I’m talking about so please don’t think I am discounting these generous folks, I’m not. But, I’m discussing giving and helping on a larger scale.
Achieve your dreams and live your best life
Probably the biggest reason I established Afterburner Success Partners (ASP) is to help individuals like you achieve your dreams and live your best lives. To do that, I must appeal to your human nature to look out for yourself first. As I’ve previously mentioned, by looking out for yourself first, you will find there are several spin-off benefits for you and those you care about. I’ve previously mentioned that if you work hard and do well at your job, you will find opportunities for promotion and pay increases. This success positively affects your family as well. It’s a win-win! As good as win-win is, is it possible to achieve better than win-win? I happen to know it is and I’d like to take a little detour for a minute to explain how you can and why it is important.
It’s hard to tell you how much I enjoyed my aviation career. Between the US Air Force and American Airlines, I was able to do things I really enjoyed and benefited others at the same time. Serving in the military is a high honor. Indeed, three generations of Giustozzi’s have served, and died (see photo), in defense of this country and our values. It’s hard to summarize how much I got out of my almost 8 years in the USAF. Whether it was being proud to represent my country, the education I received, or the satisfaction of an important job well done. In the same way, American was a wonderful employer and provided many opportunities for growth through experiences and professional development. Working in aircraft maintenance, we knew that the safety of the passengers was in our hands every day. We never took that for granted.
As I mentioned, American provided a lot of opportunities for professional development. One of the two best courses I’ve ever taken was provided by my Vice President, Oliver Martins, now deceased (Note 2). Oliver was one of those rare individuals that seemed to have all the qualities you would want in a leader. He was smart (an engineer), worldly (I think he was from Zambia and spoke about 7 languages), compassionate, and relentless in his pursuit of excellence from his people, and in turn the company. Anyway, Oliver had used the services of an organization called The Mattford Group. The Mattford Group developed a difficult and demanding course called Negotiating Solutions and was founded by two outstanding former General Electric folks named Joe (now deceased) and Kaye Shackford. Students of this course learn an important principle about working with others. And that principle is to think about the other person, how can you provide him or her with something more than what they thought possible? In turn, human nature being what it is, he or she will reciprocate. The result is that both parties can receive something better than a win-win. During the course I attended, Horizon Airlines sent not only their Company negotiators but also the Union negotiators to try to find solutions that were better for both parties than they thought possible. Have you ever seen such a thing?
What’s in it for me?
This is a long road to getting around to answering the question of what’s in it for me. While my primary goal in establishing Afterburner Success Partners is to teach you how to achieve your dreams and live your best life, I know that as a result, there will be spin-off benefits for those around you. Let me give you some examples of what I mean. As you read these examples, add your name to the “I” (I, James, for example) to make this very personal:
Because I choose to seek to achieve my dreams and live my best life, I live a full and productive life. I become my best self (Note 2, https://blacksheepglobal.com ) Because I choose to improve myself, I work harder for my employer.
Because I work harder for my employer, I can be promoted or otherwise be rewarded, to earn more money to provide a better life for my family.
Because I provide my family with a better life, that better life comes with opportunities that we may not have had if I had chosen another path.
Removing financial strain in my marriage strengthens my marriage. Financial strain is a leading cause of marital conflict. Other leading reasons for conflict include childcare issues, daily stress, busy schedules, poor communication, and harmful behaviors (Note 3).
Because we (your family) improve our financial situation, we reduce marital stress, which improves our marriage and provides better outcomes for our children. The outsized benefits of a two-parent home have been described in detail in the book “The Two-Parent Privilege” by Melissa S. Kearney (Note 4). Everyone in America should read this book.
By raising well-adjusted children in a two-parent household I improve their chance of being successful. When our children are successful, and we increase the tax base and reduce our burden on society. In turn, our grandchildren’s chances for success are improved. This result is exponential. Unfortunately, we see the same in the negative manner with generational poverty. Generational poverty affects millions of people in this country.
Because I choose to improve myself, I must think and act in ways that will not jeopardize my success. Being hard-working and honest allows me to make more money to pay more taxes to improve my community. I must be honest, trustworthy, and thrifty. These qualities reduce my needs on my community in terms of less law enforcement and social services. Everyone benefits when I choose to improve myself.
Because I am an outstanding citizen, my community spends less on law enforcement and social services for my family and they are better able to direct resources to those who truly have needs they are unable to meet themselves.
Because I can increase my income, I can increase my tithes to my church and provide funding to other charitable organizations that can help even more people, some in other countries.
Are you starting to see how this works? By helping you help yourself, what I really want to do is help your community, which will help our country, which will help our world be a better place.
As you decide if you would like to invite Afterburner Success Partners to help you achieve your dreams and live your best life, start thinking about not only win-win but how win-win can be so much more. That’s it for today!
August N. Giustozzi, Lorraine US Military Cemetery,
St. Avoid, France https://www.abmc.gov/Lorraine
What’s in it for Me
Achieving your dreams and living your best life enables you to spread wealth and help others. For just a moment, ponder how, as you improve yourself, you can share your gifts and blessings with others, in turn being a blessing to them. Consider the multiplier effect of these actions.
Call to Action
Sign up for the next available course. Ensure you are signed up for the email list. Forward this email to your friends and family. Ponder how by choosing to improve yourself, achieve your dreams, and live your best life you are better able to provide for your family, your community, and your country. Continue reading and studying the books that have been recommended.
Recommended Resources
None of us live in a vacuum and no one achieves success on their own. All of us need other people to help us along the way. Purchase and read the book How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie (Note 5). Originally published in 1936, the lessons in this book are timeless. For a time, I was reading this book once a year, and my original copy is highlighted and marked with notes. Check out the offerings of Black Sheep Group (Note 2). Purchase and read Unleash Your BS (Best Self): Putting Your Executive Presence to the Test by Jeff Black (Note 2). If you are in the corporate world, this is essential reading as you climb the ladder. Purchase and read the book The Two-Parent Privilegeby Melissa S. Kearney (Note 4).Up Next
How much does the course cost?
Notes
Please note that as an Amazon Affiliate, I may earn a small commission on the sale of any of these recommended resources.
Ponder is one of my favorite words nowadays and just means to consider or to contemplate. It’s a pause to think about something. Pondering is an intentional action to fully think about a matter.
I mentioned that Negotiating Solutions was one of the two best courses I’ve ever taken https://www.negotiatingsolutions.com (Note 6 for their book). The other top course was an executive leadership class called “Executive Presence,” which was taught by the founder of Black Sheep Global, Jeff Black https://blacksheepglobal.com Jeff taught us essential skills every leader needs to know from how to make executive presentations, to how to dress like an executive to how to behave during business dinners and other social gatherings. His high-energy style and content were absolutely amazing and I still use what I learned today. It’s the same with Negotiating Solutions. Both programs provided learning for life. Jeff has since published a wonderful book called Unleash Your BS (Best Self): Putting Your Executive Presence to the Test that I bought and would like to recommend https://amzn.to/4dY0qjf
Divorce is a leading cause of wealth loss and has ramifications for generations. See more at this link: https://www.verywellmind.com/common-marriage-problems-and-solutions-3144958
The Two-Parent Privilege by Melissa S. Kearney https://amzn.to/48c3rv7
How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie” https://amzn.to/4hpnxGL
Charting a Wiser Course: How Aviation Can Address the Human Side of Change by Joe and Kaye Shackford: https://amzn.to/4fsqjt1