People are so wasteful with their resources. Yet, our inefficiencies at managing global resources are trivial compared to our collective ability to underutilize the resources of our mind.

Leverage is getting the highest yield out of every opportunity, resource, asset or relationship you've ever come across or ever will come across. It's about knowing what value you bring to the world, exercising your value at every juncture and recognizing the advent doorways to higher and, even, unexpected outcomes.

One characteristic that sets people who live high-leverage lives apart from the average person is that they're constantly pushing themselves, the people around them and their resources to achieve higher, better more profound things. People who live high-leverage lives do not make temporary friends. They make exemplary friends and they keep them for life.

This kind of thinking influences and carries over into every aspect of their lives.

• People who live high-leverage lives don't live episodic lives. They make sure that every chapter of their life integrates, enhances and builds on the last.

• They do not squander their time or energy. They know how to prioritize their options and resources so they can achieve the maximum impact or results with the minimum expenditure of time and energy.

• They don't spend–they invest. They focus on acquiring assets that will help them in their journey, whether that's money, time, energy or resources. Sometimes they invest in their image and status. But every expense carries with it a calculated return-on-investment intended to bring in geometrically increasing yields.

• They take calculated risks and don't rush headlong into every opportunity that presents itself, yet they don't over analyze their options and, thereby, suffer from "analysis paralysis." They seem to know intuitively that as soon as the decision is made, to put aside all second-guessing and go for it.

• They intuitively understand the value exchange that is the underpinnings of our economy, and know the difference between a currency, store of value and commodity.

• They recognize artificial boundaries for what they are and either deliberately choose to exploit them, ignore them, or redraw the boundaries, thus changing the way the game is played.

• They understand that a human life is an integrated system of internal motivations and external relationships that wants to achieve critical mass before the end.

• They know that every negotiation is won by the party who brings the most leverage to bear because they come from a position of strength, abundance and opportunity as opposed to scarcity and dependence. In a system, the party with the most options wins. Leverage is exercising your options.

Now think of yourself, your clique, your business venture, as an integrated system. Are your greatest assets going to waste? Are your dependencies getting the better of you? People who live high-leverage lives get maximum utility out of their resources and assets until they are all tapped out or have to be replaced.

My guess is that you aren't paying enough consideration to what you already have. What are your strengths? These are your points of leverage. Now, how can you direct those strengths toward more productive and beneficial outcomes?  Now go figure out where it fits in with somebody else's needs. 

Creating maximum leverage means coming to the realization that optimal leverage is merely an ideal–a moving target. You can never max out on your leverage and you can never leverage your resources enough. The market for potential is infinite. Because when you live a high-leverage life you endure no excuses about constraints.