"Output is all that matters. Value doesn't come from the effort you put in. I'm sorry, it doesn't. It doesn't come from struggle or your sweat or your tears." It doesn't come from your experiences. It doesn't come from how many hours you worked at or how many years you took to learn to do it. Those things may help you to put a price tag on what you need to compensate you, but that's not the same thing at all. You can dig holes and fill them in all day long, but all that effort isn't going to result in anything valuable. It comes purely and only from the demand anyone else has for it, which is often just something very subjective and irrational which you have no control over. Someone dying in a desert values that bottle of water far more than the Mona Lisa. And that was Shannon Sands..."