How to move to the next income level

Brian Tracy uses this oft-quoted truth while advising how you can move to the next income level. The quote goes like this: “Whatever got you to where you are today is not enough to get you any further.” This means your current knowledge level and skills are just enough to get you the income you are earning now. 

This again means your current skills or knowledge are not enough for increasing your income. So, if you want to improve your living standards, you must acquire new skills and apply them to your profession or job for earning more income.

In other words, you do not have any other option except to acquire new skills or knowledge for getting better in your profession or career and moving to the next income levels. In short, you should remember the rule “for life to get better, you must get better” and work towards it. 

Here is a good news and that is there is no limit for getting better and better. But for accomplishing this aim, you must firstly have determination and unshakable faith in yourself. Of course, determination and unshakable faith in yourself also not enough. You must be disciplined also. You must take action every day and must not miss even a single opportunity. You must keep looking for the right ways to acquire new skills and improve your knowledge.

How to ensure that your skills will help you move to the next income levels?

Just acquiring skills is not enough. Your resolve should be to acquire such levels of skills that you move to the top 10% in your field. But if you have apprehensions if you can move to the top 10% in your field, remember that those who are now at that level might have had very minimum knowledge when they started. They resolved to acquire the required knowledge and disciplined themselves suitably for reaching to the top 10%. 

Remember that you are smarter and better than anyone else and that you have tremendous potential within you. You have all along been oblivious of this potential. Since you now know that you can set your eyes on very high levels, you can easily bring about phenomenal changes in your life. This means it is you who will be placing limits on using your potential.

How to be the best in your field?

Experts point out that every field consists of 5 to 7 areas that require key results. You must acquire expert levels of knowledge in these areas and keep updating your knowledge as well so you can accomplish your tasks incomparably well. 

The weakest among these skills will limit your results as well as your income. So, how fast you can move upward is determined by how resolute you are in improving this particular skill. In other words, if you get better in this area, you can easily move ahead more quickly than by focusing on other areas in which you are already strong. 

Learning style

Everyone has a unique style to learn things. You must know which style can lift the learning potential in you. If you practice that style, you will find it easy to absorb new information and acquire more skills in your field. 

So, the key question you should ask yourself should provide you with the answer as to which skill area will help you grow rapidly in your field. You should set a goal to develop that particular skill area. Don't worry if your knowledge level in that area is weak. You should then prepare a list of the books you must read, the courses that can impart the required skills in you, the CDs you should listen to, the experts whose advice you must seek and the specific actions you must take daily for learning and mastering these skills. Of course, you should consistently follow the routines till you are confident of applying the skills in your profession or job.

Don't commit the mistake of focusing on all the skills at the same time. By working on a single skill, you can have a laser-like focus but make it a point to choose the most important one that can lift your career or profession immediately.

Experts point out that the amazing result of this approach is that you will be getting better in almost all the skills simultaneously because you will learn to dig deeper and deeper into every task for performing them better than others. 

So, remember that it is possible to acquire all the skills and this includes business, sales and money-making skills. These belong to the category of " mechanical skills" because even those who are novices in these skills can acquire them by putting forth efforts with determination and discipline.