The Career You'll Love

When I gave a presentation a few weeks ago, I talked about how people relate to their income level.  I observed that people worry about money a great deal when their income is less than sufficient to maintain their lifestyle, but they focus on other things once they can generally afford how much they spend.  But “lifestyle” is a very individual term, something that each person and family develops as a norm.

This is from a manager’s point of view, and can be used to explain why people stay in jobs even though they might be paid more elsewhere.  When an employee has “sufficient” income, he’ll tend to focus more on other factors.  Relationship with co-workers now have more weight, as does the motivating factor of working on something that’s actually important.

I also observed that many employees in the current economy have been forced to slide back into situations where they’re unmotivated and unhappy, just to maintain a satisfactory income.  Or perhaps less than acceptable income.

How would an employee use this information?  In a growing economy, you’ll generally have the ability to move your lifestyle up during your lifetime.  When you do that, you’ll feel relatively happy, even rich.  You’re able to get a nicer car than you had before, and move into a nicer home.

But this is a temporary effect.  As soon as your expectations get adjusted to the new comforts, you’re not really any more satisfied than you used to be.

And realize that adjusting your lifestyle back down can be QUITE painful.  I’ve seen both good and bad examples.  I’ve seen divorces ruin peoples’ lives for economic reasons, because they’re now trying to maintain two households with no additional income.  Even worse is when people destroy their finances by attempting to maintain their lifestyle through debt.

But I’ve seen a few good examples, too.  I talked with a person last year who essentially “rebooted” her lifestyle after a job change, starting over again with fewer luxuries, lower obligations, and less debt.  That’s pretty courageous, but it reinvigorated her spirit.  She’s now focused on spending her life doing good for people rather than amassing a big pile of possessions.

I’ve also seen people who had enough self-control to take any pay raises and put them almost entirely into savings and investments.  They’re delaying the upward adjustment in lifestyle in the short term, to give themselves more cushion against risk.

When I set out in my own business three years ago, this was a serious challenge for my family.  It takes a long time to grow a successful business, so we had to decide which expenses we could reduce.  And it’s generally been a healthy route for us, but now always easy.

But if you’re going to adjust your lifestyle – up or down – do it with some forethought and intention.  You’ll be happier.

Carl Dierschow is a Certified Small Fish Business Coach and author of the career management guide, Mondays Stink! 23 Secrets to Rediscover Delight and Fulfillment in Your Work. He is a career coach for those going through interesting transitions, and works with small business owners who need to create breakthroughs in achieving their business goals. Find out more at www.Dierschow.com and www.SmallFish.us. If you are interested in individual career coaching, group coaching, or other resources which might help you with difficult choices, please contact Carl at carl@dierschow.com. Connect with Carl on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn to get timely updates and connections to a broader range of professionals.

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Man, I sure blew that.  I had that discussion with my boss, and it sure feels like I gave her a bad impression.  Now she’ll think I’m an idiot.

OK, time to calm down a bit.

Read more on my Workbloom blog»

I don’t know about you, but there’s some days I can hardly get myself out of bed.  The prospect of yet another day of pointless work….

Or I get out of meetings late in the afternoon and it hits me how behind I am.  REALLY behind.

Read more on my Workbloom blog»

Your spouse just called and told you that the weekend is now all booked up.  You were hoping to have the chance to get some fun stuff done around the house, and now your hopes have been dashed.  And you’re going to have to disappoint your friend you were going to meet up with.

Read more on my Workbloom blog»

It seems like everyone is struggling with a lack of time.  The irony is that our lives are so filled with labor-saving tools that we’re now serving those tools rather than each other.

Every human has had 24 hours a day since the dawn of time.  So you can’t argue that you’re out of time, just that you’re not using it all that effectively.

Read more on my Workbloom blog»

There’s a lot of complexity that we deal with in our lives.  Work.  Spouse.  Kids.  Parents.  Friends.  Social groups.  Facebook.

It never ends.

Read more on my Workbloom blog»

This article was supplied by my friend Eric Nitzberg of Nitzberg Coaching.  If you like this, subscribe to his newsletter!

“If you speak like that, maybe some day you can lead of church of 10 or 12 people!”

These words stung badly. (more…)