Success comes in many shapes and forms. It is getting that promotion at work, getting your children to help out around the house more, or even making a sale.
All of these things are things we want, but that is the problem. We are approaching all of our goals in a fixed mind-set and it is not beneficial to our ideal outcome. To make the best of each situation and get more from our lives, we need to adapt a bartering mind-set.
What is the bartering mind-set?
A bartering state of mind offers us a solution to many of the problems we face in day to day life. The raise we would like, but don’t get. That negotiation with our children about doing chores which only ended in an argument – what if there was another way to approach these dialogues?
Enter the bartering mind-set. This way of thinking and solving problems has been around for hundreds of years, but is only more recently being documented and referred to as a successful method. This is due to a ,am called Brian C. Gunia, who has written and released the book ‘The Bartering Mindset: A Mostly Forgotten Framework for Mastering Your Next Negotation’.
The book highlights the current way of thinking most people uphold – a monetary mind that doesn’t think clearly and of the big picture.
Whilst this book is rather recent, the method has been used widely by people to get things that they want simply by approaching situations as if they were an exchanging agreement.
How could you benefit from the bartering mind-set?
A barterer will switch something that they have an abundance of for something that they would like in return that is hard for them to come by. For example, a parent may be strapped for time to do chores. Their child may have an excess of time, but they aren’t going to want to give it up willingly unless they are getting something in return.
A bartering agreement is often seen as avoiding the use of money, so paying your child to do chores wouldn’t be much of a bartering agreement but more of a transaction for their services.
An example of a good barter for getting your child to help out around the house more would be to offer them screen time in return. You could also say that for every hour they spend on chores, you’ll plan an hours’ worth of holiday or fun activities in return.
Another example is asking for a raise at work. Simply asking for extra money won’t get you anywhere. The best method is to approach them with some additional responsibilities you are willing to take on in return for the extra pay. If you believe you are doing to much for what you are getting paid for, it could be a case of negotiating your current role so that you do less for what you are being paid.
We are all human and we are constantly thinking of how things could be better for ourselves. By giving the other party a reason to benefit from the agreement too they are much more likely to say yes.