What Makes You Valuable?

What is it that makes you valuable as a human being? What is it that makes you valuable as a teammate? I use the word teammate in the broadest sense, applying it to work and home, to sports and friendships, to community and country. What is it that makes you valuable as an individual — that sets you apart from the person standing next to you?

By definition, as individuals, we are not replicable. Each of us is intricately unique from our DNA to our life experiences; from our value systems and ideals to the perspective from which we view the world. The fact that we are unique and not replicable is the very definition of valuable. We step into that value to the degree that we’re willing to examine, understand and take ownership of it.

What makes you valuable are the parts of you that no one else can imitate. If any one of us was the same as the person standing next to us, one of us would not be necessary.

We spend much of our lives adding value to ourselves in the form of qualifications and additional knowledge — ensuring that what we present to the world is well-rounded and useful; that our skill set is either diverse enough or honed enough to add value. However, our skill set and qualifications are the replicable part of us. They are the parts of us that it’s very possible the person standing next to us may also have, especially if you were sitting in line for a job interview. What sets you apart in that scenario is the…