As humans, we generally place a lot more importance on the tangible aspects of life, as opposed to the intangibles.
We like to see, feel, touch, hear, and taste. Our senses are acute, and we need those senses served and stimulated. A tangible thing is something that can be touched, that can be palpated.
Something real and concrete.
That's what we mostly desire.
The rat race of life is a perfect example of this tangible quality enthralls us. If it's not happening now…if the business isn't booming now, growing now, making a huge profit now, it's not of value to us.
If we don't get what we want now, the venture is a failure. Where is the profit? Where is the success? Show me something tangible, so I can validate this venture.
Our lives are so rushed, so intense, so packed now that we must see the tangibles quickly—otherwise we lose hope.
We want results right away. Patience has been thrown out the window. Instead of focusing on the hard work and sustained dedication to the project or plan at hand, we focus on the results. The rewards. The feel-good results and outcomes that we connect with better. The palpable results!
We want to skip over the process to hold the results in our hands. We want the tangibles right now…the part of the process we can identify with, because others can also see them, and we attribute
our value to those tangibles.
However, in my opinion it's the intangibles that have the most value.
Those aspects of our lives that we can't measure, touch, or palpate are the most valuable.
Education, leadership, mentorship, dedication, self-confidence, loyalty, faith…and the list goes on and on. These are examples of intangibles in our lives.
We cannot skip over these ever-so-important intangible traits because we are so focused on tangible results.
Simply said, what is money worth to us if we made it losing our souls?
This love of tangibility has even been further exaggerated in the new era of social media. We see all the celebrities online in their flashy things, and we want the same. Now. At all costs. Regardless of the cost to our souls and to our pocketbooks. We don't mind going into debt as long as we can palpate some things and live a life of materialism.
We also want to palpate rewards at the cost of our heart and soul values.
Intangibles are heart and soul values (a few are listed above), and tangibles are material values.
Are you more of a tangible person? Or are you more of an intangible person?
Have you ever even thought about life in this way?
Do you want it all now? Right now?
Or are you patient enough to put in the intangibles over and over and wait for the eventual tangibles?
I strive every day to be more of a person who focuses on intangibles because I believe this is the way to change the world in a positive way.
Tangible versus Intangible values.
I hope you will ponder how these personally affect your life, and maybe you can then start to make some key shifts.
We don't have to touch "It" to believe "It" exists. We can hope, dream, act, do, create…repeat, and then wait for the results to manifest. Focus on intangibles again and again, and the tangibles
will show up at the perfect time.