Sharpee seeks delayed and larger rewards.

Explanation: Average Joes (or Jills) who make it BIG think of their business like a fruit tree. They recognize that a large harvest only comes after a lot of prep work and strategic pruning. You must often wait years to see the results of your labor, but the end result is very sweet indeed!

Sharpee trades his time for treasure.

Explanation: Most people are focused on making it to the next paycheck and never think about the long term perspective. Even major corporations focus primarily on the next quarter. To find treasure, you must often forego short term rewards to identify and reap the great treasures available further down the road.

Sharpee strives to manage his energy and leverage his time.

Explanation: Have you ever noticed people on constant caffeine kicks (or are you one of them)? They are scurrying around trying to get everything on their list accomplished, yet never seem to get it all done. In fact, it seems to be an American way of life lately. Then you see people who are always just so calm, but they seem to accomplish so much more. What's the difference?

The sharp individual does not seek to artificially boost their energy but rather recognizes their natural limitations and rythyms and works within their boundaries. Instead of focusing on the process of getting lots of things done, they focus on getting high value things done and pushing low value things into the future ... or giving them to someone else ... or not doing them at all. The more important things you can handle, the more success will find its way to you. 

Sharpee thinks that he can learn something from everyone he meets.

Explanation: Everybody hates the know-it-all ... and that's exactly how Doofus comes across to many people. He or she wants to show off how smart they are by inserting themselves into that person's life and then attempt to solve their problems for them (or at least one problem that Doofus perceives) ... even though they were not invited to do so.

By comparison, Sharpee sees the world in a very different way. He or she looks at each person they meet and ponders what they can learn from this new person that might help improve their own life. Sharpee knows that every person has gone through a unique life journey. The lessons each person has gone through can enhance Sharpee's own life ... hopefully without the pain the other person experienced while learning that lesson.

Sharpee spends more time contemplating his customer's needs rather than his own needs.

Explanation: The demands of life often drive us to focus on what we must do to put food on our table today ... or what we want to accomplish next. As a result, most people become oriented to their own particular world and needs. But that is a bad viewpoint for the leaders or owners of a business. Rising stars and shining stars make a point to focus more on the needs of their customers, even if it means self-sacrifice for a time. That mindset is often rewarded with expanded patronage and loyalty in the future. Those focused on the short-term too often never achieve greatness in the long-term.

Sharpee constantly visits what will be happening tomorrow.

Explanation: I once heard a great lesson that says army general thinks about things years into the future while the private thinks about things just hours or days into the future. The lesson was that the longer their time horizon, the more vauable people become. I would add that the losers in life actually don't think ahead at all. They focus all their mental energies on things of the past. There is not a thing they can do to change the past, but their entire outlook is dictated by things of the past. The wise person understands that the past is a source of lessons, but that the future is the only thing that can be changed ... and Sharpee seeks to make that change positive and productive.

Sharpee focuses on helping others before helping himself.

Explanation: It is human nature to be suspicious of others in any transaction. We are very careful about placing our trust in others and have developed amazing skills at keeping those we don't know or trust far away. The only way someone ever enters the trust zone is to consistently prove that they have the other person's interests at heart as much as (or more than) their own. The person who is only concerned about themselves never gains entry to the inner circle, which is where real relationships, and business, happen.