The Richly or Poorly Show
Show Transcript
shdawson-20260505.mp3
Episode 05/05/2026
05/05/2026
Hello! Welcome to The Richly or Poorly Show!
My name is Dr. Stephen Dawson, and I am your show host.
Thank you for joining me.
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The show's motto is unmistakable: RICHLY IS GOODLY!
Please consider how you define the term good as we journey through life together in your pursuit of defining the term richly in your life.
The plan for my presentations to you was to first establish a foundation of shared understanding between you, the listener, and me. Then, proceed to build on that foundation with subsequent episodes. I recommend that you review the nine episodes between December 2nd, 2025, through January 27th, 2026, as you see fit to help you remember the foundation of our shared understanding as we proceed through each episode you hear in the coming weeks, months, and years.
Last week, I presented on the topic of Determine Team Members. I shared that, arguably, selecting people to do work for you is one of the most difficult things to do when either working with friends or parting with money.
I then presented the example of you remodeling your kitchen to illustrate some project and teaming concepts. Let's continue with this example today for the sake of simplicity, especially since you have been thinking about this topic over the past few weeks.
I presented on December 9th, 2025, the first principle I have found as paramount, undeniable, and non-negotiable to living life more richly:
Understand Your Data Lifecycle
I presented on January 20th, 2026, the first aspect of the Truth:
Arrogance Precedes Anger
AND
Anger Precedes Violence
I taught about some of the power of knowing these aspects of the Truth as you further your work to remodel your kitchen by your selection of your team members to join your project.
Today, I will present on the topic of Determine Compensation. This topic is where most people check out of listening to what I share with them. They not only check out of listening to what I say, but also begin to skim read what I write. The result of these two choices is unnecessary money flying out of their pocket. They then wonder why they are not living their life more richly.
Humbly, I say this to the checked-out listener and the skimming reader: Check back in and stop skimming. Today is about spending your money. If you are searching for a good means to live your life more richly, then keeping your money in your pocket instead of wasting it is a solid way to live your life more richly.
I will start today's presentation with a concept that left much of society about twenty years ago. It left because of the widespread assumption that it was both understood and agreed to by the majority of humanity. Nothing could be further from the Truth. The Truth is that the lack of understanding about this concept is a significant part of why both personal and central bank debt have risen into the trillions of dollars in the United States alone. I will follow explaining this concept by then covering three terms that are as horrible by firsthand experience as they are to read in the dictionary.
I do not present this information to you as a member of my intended audience as a form of belittlement. I present this information to you, knowing I have seen over the past four decades the damage caused to people, to businesses, to their customers, and to their investors, by not understanding it. I would be remiss in my professionalism to you by not presenting this information to you. I care enough about our relationship to do my best for you. I am sure you feel the same way about being able to receive the best from me.
The term productive is a plural term. It is an adjective. An adjective is a term that describes a noun. Productive is producing goods and services that have EXCHANGE value.
The term work is a plural term. It is a noun. A noun states an attribute of a person, place, thing, or idea. Work is any PRODUCTIVE activity.
The term output is a plural term. It is a noun. Output is the quantity or amount produced during a specific time. Please note that output has nothing to do with quality. I will not discuss quality today.
So, why not discuss quality today? The answer is because quality is a subjective term that is too large to discuss as of yet in our time together.
This answer alone should be enough for anyone who is checked out in listening and skimming what I write to check back in and start listening and stop skimming what I write.
So, putting these three terms today, there is the concept of Productive Work Output. This specific concept is what you are funding in the work you pay others to accomplish for you. Paying for anything else is money that you are wasting.
I said last week that the better move when communicating what you want from a result from anyone doing work for you is to communicate clearly to each project team member exactly what you need accomplished for an outcome by stating the inputs you require to be used, the process you agree for them to follow, and the exact output you require to form the outcome. I explained how inputs, processes, and outputs operate to form outcomes in the April 21st, 2026, episode.
Now, three more terms to cover before we proceed.
First, Laziness. Laziness, in the context of Productive Work Output, is worker behavior choosing to move more slowly than agreed.
Second, Bully. A bully, in the context of Productive Work Output, is anyone who is forcing you to behave in a way that you do not want to behave.
Third, Friend. Friend, in the context of Productive Work Output, is anyone who is not working for you. You may have someone who is your friend before they begin to work for you. However, they are not your friend while they are working for you. They are a person you are paying to perform work for you.
Now, Determine Compensation. We now hold a shared understanding of the concept of Productive Work Output. You already know, specifically, what you need accomplished, when you want it accomplished, where you want it accomplished, and how you want it accomplished. You are working on the part of who will accomplish the work by considering the money you will pay them to deliver specific Productive Work Output for you.
There are only two ways to pay workers. First, by an amount of money for each hour they work for you. Second, as they deliver specific Productive Work Output to you by specific times, at specific locations, and in specific amounts. Again, I will not discuss quality today.
Now, back to Productive Work Output. You and your prospective team member are still talking to Determine Compensation. You have an idea of what you are willing to pay, and they have an idea about what they want to earn from their work for you. The entire theory of economics is covered in this conversation between you and your prospective team member. Specifically, a sale occurs when the price you are willing to pay for your demand and the price they are willing to accept for their supply of materials and labor to you are the same. This price is called the sale price. Then, the exchange of money to execute this agreement is called the sale transaction.
Now, how do you accomplish this Determine Compensation talk with your prospective team member? Do you do it politely, or do you use a different personality that they do not experience from you frequently? Do you talk in a way that is more emotional and less intellectual, or vice versa? Do you present them with an ultimatum of take it or leave it, or do you try to break down the work into small pieces with payment for each piece of Productive Work Output?
We have been using the example of you remodeling your kitchen in the past few episodes. Let's continue with that example, but not limit our thinking to only a part of your home called your kitchen being changed. Let's keep in mind that this conversation between you and your prospective team member may present some unexpected opportunities.
What if your prospective team member offered to also replace the flooring in the bathroom you have near your kitchen? What if your prospective team member also offered to do something with your window in your kitchen, like replace it or even expand it to a larger window? Any of these offers that you are willing to consider, even before you arrive at an agreement, is a scope change.
I said last week that if the scope changes, then the team formation process must start again from Determine Duration and then Determine Trust before a new scope can be determined. It is crucial to remember that Determine Compensation resulting in a scope change throws duration into a likely mess, and trust is stretched quite harshly. It does not matter if your prospective team member is acting either objectively or dishonestly. All that matters is that you take the results of talking to Determine Compensation to further consider the details apart from your prospective team member. Acting on emotion instead of intellect is a risk that can result easily in spending too much money, taking on too much work at once, and having the kitchen in a mess for longer than planned.
It is understood that you, as the buyer, want your kitchen remodel accomplished as soon as possible. It is reasonable to believe that your prospective team member, as the seller, wants to do the work to remodel your kitchen. Any statement from a seller that a decision must be reached immediately on agreeing to start the project work is an unbearable risk. Stop, say goodbye, and search for another prospective team member.
You see, it is fair for the seller to need to schedule work. However, you, as the buyer, are not required to live the life of anyone other than your own. Remember what I shared with you last week.
What I have found as a success pattern is to select team members for my projects who are strangers to me, who have a licensed business, and who have already proven to others that they have a skill that I need performed as part of the work to help me accomplish the scope of my project. This stranger may turn into a friend for you, one day, but for now, they are a stranger. You have the freedom to not be burdened by the weight of their work causing any form of damage to your friendship with them, as they are not your friend as of now. You have the freedom to say goodbye to them without shame after their part of the project work is complete.
Now, back to the concept of Productive Work Output. This concept alone is all that you need to guide your conversation with your prospective team member. It is a concept based entirely on wisdom. A friend will want to discuss other aspects of the work. A bully will want to discuss other aspects of the work. A lazy person will want to discuss other aspects of the work. You are not paying either a friend, a bully, or a lazy person. You are looking to pay a licensed business that has already proven to others that they have a skill that you need performed as part of the work to help you accomplish the scope of your project.
Now, I imagine you are asking about hiring a person who is not a licensed business to do work for you. I have found paying friends to do work for me does not work out well at all. The same position holds true when I have worked with businesses trying to get other businesses to do things for them as a friend of the business. There are many reasons I could share with you as to why it does not work, but I will leave it as I said it here to you now. If you want more information from me as to why paying friends does not work out well, then email me and I will be happy to share more information with you on this topic.
So, how do you arrive at determining a specific amount of money to pay for the work you need accomplished? This is where you need to discuss quality. Why, you are most likely asking, has quality not been brought up in the Determine Compensation conversation as of yet? The answer is simple. If a person cannot drive a big truck, then there is no need to talk to them about driving a truck a thousand miles. If a person cannot bake a cake, then there is no need to talk to them about your cake preferences. You are looking to know about the type of work a prospective team member can accomplish. This is quantity. If they cannot do the work you need accomplished, then the quantity is zero.
So, now is the time to discuss work quality in Productive Work Output. We will discuss work quality in the episode next week.
I suggest you spend time between now and then considering how you want to handle discussions with anyone you are considering to be a prospective team member, to help you accomplish the work you need accomplished. Think about your tone of voice, your body language, and where you want to have those conversations. I do not like to have these conversations with a group of people. I like to have them with only the person whom I will be paying. But that is me. There are many reasons I could share with you as to why I want it this way, but I will leave it as I said it here to you now. If you want more information from me as to why I only like to talk to the person whom I will be paying during the Determine Compensation conversation, then email me and I will be happy to share more information with you on this topic.
Finally, think about what we have covered to date concerning the topic of wisdom. If you do not like wisdom, then it is hard to believe you want to live your life more richly. I addressed pursuing wisdom to experience the Truth in the March 3rd, 2026, episode. I suggest you listen to that episode. I am confident you will reach the point where not wasting your money is a good way to further experience the benefits of wisdom as you pursue the Truth. The December 16th, 2025, episode will help you gain an even stronger understanding of why we started with the topic of wisdom before we began to talk about you spending your money.
Well, that's it for today.
RICHLY IS GOODLY!
Thank you for joining me for this episode of The Richly or Poorly Show!
I have enjoyed presenting to you today.
Until the next episode, I hope you will be safe and join me next week.
Until then.
© 2026 SH Dawson. All rights reserved.