HOW MUCH DOES YOUR JOB COST?
❝Don't let making a living prevent you from making a life.❞ -John Wooden
A good paycheck doesn't make a bad job worth it.
I’m at happy hour with a friend, talking about life, our families, and our jobs. He tells me he just can’t handle his job anymore. He’s angry every time he gets home. He feels like crap every morning before going in. All he talks about with his wife is how much he hates it. He’s done the math, he says. He only has to make it 8 more years, and then he can retire early at 55.
I ask him, “Why not find a different job you like and work a little longer?”
He says he’s never considered it.
He thinks about his job only in terms of what he gets out of it, not what he puts into it.
THE BENEFITS OF YOUR JOB
It’s easy to think about a job in terms of its benefits. It’s almost too obvious. It’s why we take a job in the first place.
A job gives us more than a paycheck. It also gives us benefits, a network, status, friendships, and so on.
This focus on the benefits can be the reason people stay in jobs they don’t like. You’ll often hear about golden handcuffs, where someone is unlikely to make a similar salary elsewhere, so they feel shackled to the job for the pay. But there are other reasons people stick around: fear of starting over, seniority, and plain familiarity.
THE COSTS OF YOUR JOB
The side people rarely think about is what the job costs.
Some costs are the ones you’d expect, the financial ones: commuting, work clothes, childcare, lunches, and so on.
Others are hidden. These tend to be emotional, physical, and relational: stress, Sunday dread, lack of sleep, health issues, and strained relationships.
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The Value Compass is designed to help you gain insight into your own values and how they guide your thoughts, feelings, and actions. It can be used to explore your personal goals and motivations, as well as to gain a better understanding of others' values and how they may differ from your own. |
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EVALUATING THE BENEFITS AND THE COSTS
The way to decide whether your job is worth it is to look at both sides. You might find that what you get out of it outweighs what it costs. If so, that’s amazing. Keep it up.
If the costs outweigh the benefits, you’ve got options. One is to do what my friend plans to do: suck it up and retire early. There are others, though. You might find a lower-paying job you’re willing, able, and happy to work at for longer. You might trim your lifestyle so a smaller paycheck still covers it. Think of the pay cut as the price of a better life.
These questions are worth asking on your own. They’re often easier to answer when someone else is doing the asking.
Eight years is a long time to suffer through something you hate.
You get one life; live intentionally.
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REFERENCES AND INFLUENCES
Burkeman, Oliver: Four Thousand Weeks
Housel, Morgan: The Psychology of Money
Klontz, Brad & Ted Klontz: Mind Over Money
Perkins, Bill: Die With Zero
Robin, Vicki: Your Money or Your Life
Schwartz, Barry: Why We Work
Sivers, Derek: Hell Yeah or No
Ware, Bronnie: The Top Five Regrets of the Dying
