Why money should motivate you

This title will be a bit of a surprise to all those that know me well, since I am a bit of a hippie. I was raised by parents who firmly held money low on the ladder of priorities. So I haven’t grown up focusing on money in my career, ever. I was taught – perhaps like you – that caring about your salary makes you greedy. Saying you want to be paid well is poor form, un-lady-like, not done.

And I am not alone in this. As women, the message tends to be that we should work for love, not money.

And so when we join the workforce, we don’t ask for more. We are just grateful for the opportunity to work, to prove ourselves. Perhaps it didn’t even cross our minds that we could ask for more?

And so we work our butts off and think to ourselves “Once they see how well I do, they will recognize my value and give me the raise that I deserve.”

But then they don’t.

Of course they don’t: it makes very little business sense for your manager to do so.

But here’s the problem with that.

Your salary is more than what they transfer every month to your bank account.

It’s also an expression of the value they hold for the work that you do. And so when you don’t get a raise, but just a pat on the back after a glowing appraisal, you start to feel undervalued. And when you feel undervalued, the more difficult it is to do your best work.

And who loses out when this happens?

You do, of course. It’s no fun not doing great work and feeling rubbish. Your family and friends are probably also not getting the best version of you, if this is how you feel about such an important part of your life.

But here’s something not many people realise: your boss also misses out.

They miss out on your most fabulous you and your most awesome work. They are not leveraging all your brain power, inspiration and dedication when you’re low key resentful, unhappy, negative. And this spiral continues until either one of you decides it’s enough and you leave. Which is when both sides have REALLY lost…

(And if you don’t pattern interrupt and quickly learn to negotiate well for that new role… well… the cycle of resentment continues.)

So that is why you SHOULD care about money.

If you don’t, you lose out on a lot more than just the money. Which, by the way, is nothing to sniff at. We’re talking between hundreds of thousands and millions of EUR over the course of your career – see my other rants on where this calculation is coming from and why it’s no exaggeration.

So how do you stay out of this negative spiral? And – dare I suggest – turn it into a positive spiral where you are so excited about the work you do AND how you are valued for it, that your career progresses by leaps and bounds, since you’re showing up to work every day with massive excitement, inspiration and dedication?

Negotiate, chicks. Ask for more. Have the conversation with your (future) boss. Explain to them why and how it helps them if you’re performing at peak level, and how, in order to do that, you need to feel appreciated.

Go on, you can do this.

Let me know if I can help – just drop me a PM or book a call with me and my team.