A response from a reader to yesterday’s email (about the hidden danger of an increasing salary):
I agree! I’m going to go freelance soon and it would be much easier to stay where I am because they pay me well but I want to develop… and that doesn’t have a price tag
Sounds like an exciting move. And I doff my cap.
Not easy kissing goodbye to a decent wage and jumping into uncharted waters.
Perhaps it’s easier if you can disentangle your pay from everything else that’s important to you. And harder if you can’t.
Because if you equate your personal progress with your salary, your next job must always pay you
more. Otherwise you’re going backwards.
So you’re always chasing the next pay bump. Jobs which pay less don’t get a look-in.
They certainly didn’t for me. In 13 years of banking, the idea of taking a role
which paid less never even popped into my head.
And if anyone did, they’d be deemed as nutty as a fruitcake and shipped straight off to the loony bin.
Or at least raise a few eyebrows from the corporate cognoscenti.
But the fact of the matter is...
Choosing a lower salary doesn’t mean you’re going backwards.
It doesn’t mean you’re less happy, energised or fulfilled. That you have less opportunity to create and do cool work. Or that you
have less balance or flexibility.
And it definitely doesn’t mean you’re growing, learning or developing any less.
In fact, it could mean the opposite. It could mean you’re focussing on the things that are right for you.
Something to bear in mind perhaps.
That’s all I’ve got for you today.
Have a great weekend.
- Tom
p.s.
Whenever you're ready, here are the ways you can connect with me