Career Mission's Chief Executive Officer, A. Harrison Barnes, in a webinar discussed how your ability to succeed in the world and in your life is directly proportional to the perceived value of the product/commodity you are offering.

Your career and life revolves around precisely one important aspect: having a valuable skill for which the world is willing to pay. The payment can be anything - food, money, shelter, or goodwill. Harrison believes that whatever the payment, you must have a skill that is enduring and that which others are willing to pay for. People are respected for their skills and it is these skills which open up opportunities for them. So many people lose track of this idea or are not aware of it at all. This creates incredibly unhappy lives. You need to understand what you are really skilled at and then go on to develop, refine, and contribute that skill to add greater value to the world.

If you do not have a valuable skill like the doctor does, the world is probably not going to have much interest in you. You need to pick something, focus on it, do it to the best of your ability, and ensure that it is characterized by such things like longevity and marketability. Your skill needs to be one that is really good and that which keeps getting better by the day. You cannot succeed in this life without a product and Harrison states that the better your product, the better your life will be.