To evaluate means to ascertain or fix the value or worth of something. To examine and judge carefully. Another word for evaluate is appraise. Now that's a word I'm familiar with. Appraise! In the car industry we use this word when we appraise or evaluate a customer's trade. What are we doing when we do this? Besides making our customers upset about what we appraise their trade for, we are examining, evaluating and looking over the trade carefully to see the condition, mileage and real time value of it. The appraisal shows us the trade as it is valued in the condition we see it. Now, if the trade has a dent in one door, is over mileage 20,000 miles and has a cracked bumper, the value of the trade will decrease. There will be deductions made for each area. But if the bumper is not cracked, the mileage is under by 5,000 miles and there are no dents at all on the vehicle the trade will be valued higher. The appraisal reveals to the one evaluating it and the one who owns it not only the actual value of it in the condition it's in now but also the reasons why it's worth what it's worth.

We do appraisals for people every day, but what about ourselves? Now, you might be thinking, "I don't need to do an appraisal on my car because I'm not trading it in!" But I'm not talking about appraising your car. I'm talking about you. Have you done an appraisal on yourself lately? Have you pulled out the "Self Appraisal" and took time to evaluate yourself? What about the "Life Appraisal"? Have you taken time to evaluate, examine and look over your life to see the condition, mileage and real time value of it? Have we been so busy working and evaluating things for everybody else that we've let ourselves' fall apart and we haven't had time to take proper care of us? Take the time to evaluate yourself today so you can fix and improve the areas that have caused you to lose self-value in your life. Here is a sample "Self Appraisal" for you to do right now:

This is just a sample but I trust you get the idea of how you can use this to evaluate your present reality whatever it may be. There are many other types of appraisals you can put together also. Here are a few more to consider:

• Leadership Appraisal
• Work Appraisal
• Emotional Appraisal
• Physical Appraisal
• Spiritual Appraisal
• Social Appraisal
• Management Appraisal
• Sales Appraisal

Now if we were to just do an evaluation and leave it at that than we'd all be depressed and in pretty bad shape. However, the evaluation is necessary to expose to us our current condition right now so we can fix, correct and adjust the value of what we see. This is where education comes in.

Education

To educate means to provide with knowledge or training in a particular area or for a particular purpose. Once we have done our evaluation now we can fix, correct and adjust the necessary areas we have discovered.

"The great aim of education is not knowledge but action."

Knowledge + Corresponding Action = Education. When we are truly educated in an area we are no longer ignorant in that area. We have the know how to fix, change and adjust ourselves into a higher place than where we were without our education. This is called elevation.

Elevation

Evaluation + Education = Elevation. This is always the result of someone who practices these principles in any area of life. Whether it is the workplace, the sale, the close, life, leadership, management, relationships or anything else this formula will hold true.

As you focus on making it a habit to evaluate and educate yourself in every area of life you will experience being elevated to new positions, promotions and higher levels of responsibility.