Here’s something to try: 

March into your boss’s office and say, “I’ve been with the company for some time, I believe my work has been excellent, and I’d like a 15% pay cut.  Though I could settle for 10% if that’s all the firm can manage right now”.

This comes from Daniel Gilbert’s book Stumbling on Happiness.

At first glance this suggestion seems as ridiculous as a giraffe wearing a tutu.

But there is a scenario where it makes sense. 

Here’s how Gilbert illustrates this:

When people are asked whether they’d prefer a job where they earned $30k the first year, $40k the second and $50k the third, or a job where they earned $60k, then $50k, then $40k, they generally prefer the former – even though they’d earn less money over the 3 years.

Curious right?

It turns out we’re not so interested in the “pay” part of a pay cut.  Instead, we’re more interested in the “cut” part.

Simply put:

Humans aren’t wired to be that sensitive to the size of things.  But we are wired to be extremely sensitive to changes in the size of things.

As my PT Zack wisely noted last week: going from 2.5kg to 5kg on a dumbbell press is much tougher than going from 15kg to 17.5kg.  Even though both are a 2.5kg increase.

Pay is no different.  It’s the %s that affect us, not the numbers.  Especially if those %s are negative.

Gilbert goes on to give a sneakier example of how this plays out:

An ancient ploy involves asking someone to pay an unrealistically large cost (“Would you come to our Save the Bears meeting next Friday, then join us at a protest march at the zoo?”) before asking them to pay a smaller cost (“Okay then, could you at least contribute $5 to our organisation?”).

Guess what?

Various studies have shown that people are likelier to pay a small cost after they’ve considered a much larger cost.

The smaller request seems more reasonable because of the change in the size of the request.

It’s that relativity idea at play again.  Just from a slightly different angle.

And this is something to keep in mind. 

I’m sure you can think of a few ways to use this idea at work.

After all, working life is all about making requests and setting expectations. 

And while we’re on the subject of making requests…

I have a request to ask of you before I wrap this up.

If you enjoy my emails, I’d like you to forward this email (or another email of mine) to 10 of your friends and colleagues.

Of course, you’d be doing me a favour if you do.

But you’d be doing them a favour too.  You’d be suggesting a free resource which might raise a smile or give them a helpful tip.

It won’t take more than a few seconds to hit forward and say “Hey Alex. I thought you’d enjoy this guy’s emails”.

I’ve even put a handy sign-up link right here to make it as easy as possible to join this list.

I’d be grateful if you do.

That’s it for today.

Catch you tomorrow.

- Tom

p.s. is forwarding to 10 friends and colleagues a bit of an ask?  Okay then.  How about forwarding to 2 or 3 instead?