What’s in it for me?

What’s in it for me? This may sound like a strange question to start the year off with. It may sound a bit self-centred, it may even sound a bit dangerous, considering the egos that are wielding their power in the world as we speak. But hear me out….

I’m a salesman. I enjoy what I sell. I sell a client service, and hopefully it’s a good service. As a salesmen, there are a few people that I have always taken inspiration from. A guy called Zig Zigler is one of them.

Zig Zigler was an American salesman and motivational speaker (he died in 2012). He highlighted that when it comes to selling, there are three points we all need to be aware of:

WIIFM – what’s in it for me?

WGAS – who gives a shit? 

SOCO – single overriding clear objective. 

The value of knowing why you do something

And to kick the year off, I am encouraging us all to focus on WIFM – what’s in it for me? I want to start by asking, do you ever really think about WHY you go to work? What are you working for? And importantly, are you happy with how your work life is?

I’m pretty sure that many of us have never stopped to think about this. But it is important to know why you do what you do. You also need to believe in what you do.  

Why? Because It’s very hard to motivate yourself to do anything if you don’t know the reason you do it. What’s more, if you are just focusing on making sure everyone else around you that you care about is happy, then you are doing yourself a disservice. You will not be able to really help others, support others, be there for others. You will become disillusioned and maybe ever resentful. You won’t be meeting your own needs; you will simply go into survival mode and be less able to be there for others.

Taking care of you allows you to be selfless

It may sound counter intuitive, but by focusing on ‘what’s in it for me’, you are not being selfish. You are in fact putting yourself in the strongest possible position to be selfless, to help others.

There’s a famous quote from Zig Ziglar: “You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help other people get what they want.” And it rings true of course. Creating deep relationships is about helping others get what they want and helping them reduce or remove what is causing them suffering. But you can only do that when you are yourself are strong. You need to understand, what’s in it for you, what in your life is for you.

That’s why I encourage you to stop for a moment, before we go too deep into the year, and consider what’s in it for me, when it comes to your work and of course your personal life.

Start small if you need to

Outside of work, We all need time where we do something that fills us up in a really positive way. And no matter how busy we are, we can make a choice to make sure that happens. There must be time in your day or week for a tea break, a walk, something positive for your personal health, an interest, that helps you do you better. Or it could be just some quiet time!

And if you need to, start small – really small. Maybe you love the smell of a really good soap, so every time you wash your hands it lifts the spirits. Maybe it’s an amazing cup of coffee you have to get froma specific café or a decent cuppa in a special mug. Whatever it is, take time for these things. Make the active choice to introduce them into your daily life. You will be a better person for it.

Here’s to a positive 2026 everyone.