christopherhildreth

How many of you have ever sold something you did – a service or item you made?

What did you price it at?

Did anyone say the price was too high or did someone tell you that you were selling too low?

We tend to value ourselves less than

Matthew 10:29-31 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. 30And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

What does it take to make the transition from less than to more than?

It is amazing how much the price on an item can fluctuate
– different stores have different prices
– different times of the month or year dictate different prices
– one small thing can alter a price significantly…….a story

Attach a story to a product and watch its value rise and rise

“Stories are such a powerful driver of emotional value that their effect on any given objects subjective value can actually be measured objectively”, assert Joshua Glenn and Rob Walker on their website significantobjects.com. The entire site is home to an experiment that sets out to prove it.

The experiment went like this Glen and Walker bought cheap, throwaway objects from thrift stores and garage sales, always for pocket change or a couple dollars at most. Then a writer would create a fictional story about the object in any voice or style. The once unremarkable object (now transformed into a significant object by virtue of the fictional backstory and information associated with it) then would be listed for sale on eBay the winning bidder would receive the object and a printout of the story.

The difference in original purchase price and story-enhanced resale price would be recorded as the value added by attaching story to an object.

Examples:

A pair of plastic shark and seal pens cost $1.99 to buy. Its resale price, after Suzanna Daniel added a story was $35 – an increase of 1659%

A yo-yo with the Amoco logo on it cost 25 cents. It’s resale price, after Mark Sarvas added a story, was $41 an increase of 16,300%

The overall results for the first 100 items bought, storied, and resold on eBay: average object purchase price: $1.29. Average resale price after the story was added: $36.12. Average increase in value: 2706%.

What’s the moral, besides the obvious? It’s hard to avoid this upshot: when selling something, meaning matters. Even, apparently, if the meeting is made up.

Sometimes a yo-yo is just a yo-yo, other times, it’s a 16,300% return on your investment. How? When it’s got a backstory like this: “when I was 17, I was expelled from high school. My father, reasonably enough, give me a choice: get a job or get out. The only job for a 30 mile radius was the night shift behind the counter at an Amoco station on a deserted road off the interstate.”

The story, from the significant objects website, continues to unspool, sending the objects value on a stunning trajectory. By the time the narrator has “walked the dog, dealt with a fat hairy boss, and encountered a girl (of course, girl), the yo-yo has been transformed. Put another way $.25 yo-yo plus story equals $41.

Remember these were fictional stories completely made up

We have already discussed that we tend to value ourselves less than and God values us more than.

We’ve also seen how story can change the value of an object.

What can help us to see more than instead of less than in our own value?

Hearing the story that God attaches to us.

I used to think I needed a big, compelling story about prison time and Satan worship before I could have a good story.

Turns out I was wrong, here is what God thinks and tells about you –

1. God has expressed His kindness to you (Eph 2:7)
2. God’s power works through you (Eph 3:7)
3. You are a citizen of heaven (Php 3:20)
4. You are a dwelling for the Holy Spirit (Eph 2:22)
5. You are a holy temple (Eph 2:21; 1Co 6:19)
6. You are a light in the world (Mt 5:14)
7. You are a light to others, and can exhibit goodness, righteousness and truth (Eph 5:8-9)
8. You are a member of Christ’s Body (1Co 12:27)
9. You are a member of God’s household (Eph 2:19)
10. You are a minister of reconciliation (2Co 5:17-20)
11. You are a new creation (2Co 5:17)
12. You are a personal witness of Jesus Christ (Ac 1:8)
13. You are a saint (Eph 1:18)
14. You are adopted as his child (Eph 1:5)
15. You are alive with Christ (Eph 2:5)
16. You are assured all things work together for good (Ro 8:28)
17. You are blameless (ICo 1:8)
18. You are blessed in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing (Eph 1:3)
19. You are born again (IPe 1:23)
20. You are born of God and the evil one cannot touch me (1Jn 5:18)
21. You are chosen and dearly loved (Col3:12)
22. You are chosen before the creation of the world (Eph 1:4, 11)
23. You are Christ’s friend (Jn 15:15)
24. You are completed by God (Eph 3:19)
25. You are confident that God will perfect the work He has begun in me (Php 1:6)
26. You are crucified with Christ (Gal 2:20)
27. You are dead to sin (Ro 1:12)
28. You are delivered (Col1:13)
29. You are faithful (Eph 1:1)
30. You are forgiven (Eph 1:8; Col1:14)
31. You are given God’s glorious grace lavishly and without restriction (Eph 1:5,8)
32. You are God’s child (Jn 1:12)
33. You are God’s coworker (2Co 6:1)
34. You are God’s workmanship (Eph 2:10)
35. You are growing (Col 2:7)
36. You are healed from sin (IPe 2:24)
37. You are hidden with Christ in God (Col 3:3)
38. You are His disciple (Jn 13:15)
39. You are holy and blameless (Eph 1:4)
40. You are in Him (Eph 1:7; 1Co 1:30)
41. You are included (Eph 1:13)
42. You are more than a conqueror (Ro 8:37)
43. You are no longer condemned (Ro 8:1, 2)
44. You are not alone (Heb 13:5)
45. You are not helpless (Php 4:13)
46. You are not in want (Php 4:19)
47. You are overcoming (IJn 4:4)
48. You are part of God’s kingdom (Rev 1:6)
49. You are persevering (Php 3:14)
50. You are prayed for by Jesus Christ (Jn 17:20-23)
51. You are promised a full life (Jn 10:10)
52. You are promised eternal life (Jn 6:47)
53. You are protected (Jn 10:28)
54. You are qualified to share in His inheritance (Col1:12)
55. You are raised up with Christ (Eph 2:6; Col2:12)
56. You are redeemed from the curse of the Law (Gal 3:13)
57. You are safe (IJn 5:18)
58. You are salt and light of the earth (Mt 5:13-14)
59. You are sealed with the promised Holy Spirit (Eph 1:13)
60. You are seated with Christ in the heavenly realms (Eph 2:6)
61. You are secure (Eph 2:20)
62. You are set free (Ro 8:2; Jn 8:32)
63. You are the righteousness of God (2Co 5:21)
64. You are united with other believers (Jn 17:20-23)
65. You are victorious (1Co 15:57)
67. You belong to God (1Co 6:20)
68. You can approach God with freedom and confidence (Eph 3:12)
69. You can be certain of God’s truths and the lifestyle which He has called me to (Eph 4:17)
70. You can be humble, gentle, patient and lovingly tolerant of others (Eph 4:2)
71. You can be kind and compassionate to others (Eph 4:32)
72. You can be strong (Eph 6:10)
73. You can bring glory to God (Eph 3:21)
74. You can forgive others (Eph 4:32)
75. You can give thanks for everything (Eph 5:20)
76. You can grasp how wide, long, high and deep Christ’s love is (Eph 3:18)
77. You can have a new attitude and a new lifestyle (Eph 4:21-32)
78. You can honor God through marriage (Eph 5:22-33)
79. You can mature spiritually (Eph 4:15)
80. You can parent your children with composure (Eph 6:4)
81. You can stand firm in the day of evil (Eph 6:13)
82. You can understand what God’s will is (Eph 5:17)
83. You don’t have to always have your own agenda (Eph 5:21)
84. You have access to the Father (Eph 2:18)
85. You have been brought near to God through Christ’s blood (Eph 2:13)
86. You have been called (Eph 4:1; 2Ti 1:9)
87. You have been chosen and God desires you to bear fruit (Jn 15:1,5)
88. You have been established, anointed and sealed by God (2Co 1:21-22)
89. You have been justified (Ro 5:1)
90. You have been shown the incomparable riches of God’s grace (Eph 2:7)
91. You have God’s power (Eph 6:10)
92. You have hope (Eph 1:12)
93. You have not been given a spirit of fear, but of power, love and self-discipline (2Ti 1:7)
94. You have peace (Eph 2:14)
95. You have purpose (Eph 1:9 & 3:11)
96. You have redemption (Eph 1:8)
97. You know there is a purpose for your sufferings (Eph 3:13)
98. You possess the mind of Christ (ICo 2:16)
99. You share in the promise of Christ Jesus (Eph 3:6)
100. Your heart and mind is protected with God’s peace (Php 4:7)

If you are not convinced let’s look back at the verse we talked about in the beginning :

Matthew 10:29-31 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. 30And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows

God sees value in you – think about this fact this week.

This is a small scratch of what we could talk about concerning this subject, if you have questions, want to talk more, we can talk here, Facebook, or even on my blog.

I stopped writing my blog a few years ago because I listened to the wrong person who didn’t give any value to me, now I see that I do have value and you do too.

Explore posts in the same categories: Awareness, Belief, Character, Context, Creativity, Goals, Influence, Leadership, Life, Vision

This entry was posted on October 7, 2012 at 9:22 am and is filed under Awareness, Belief, Character, Context, Creativity, Goals, Influence, Leadership, Life, Vision. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.