If you are dependent on receiving a monthly salary, you have a particular way of thinking that has been encoded in you through years of schooling and socialization in the job market.
There are some special phrases, sentences and wordings that repeat themselves.
Maybe you use them too, and maybe you have never questioned your choice of wording.
Have a look at this list of ten typical phrases.
Maybe you can recognize yourself in one or more of them?
1. “It’s Not Good for My Career to ____”
You can put almost anything in here.
For example:
“It’s not good for my career to have children now.”
“It’s not good for my career to move now.”
“It’s not good for my career to take a leave to travel the world.”
People who are addicted to work tend to rob themselves of – or procrastinate on – some of life’s greatest gifts because they elevate their careers to a sacred spot.
It may not be consciously that they place a higher value on work than life.
It may be caused by an inner insecurity about what will happen and how they’ll survive and support their family if they don’t have a “career”.
But what exactly is a career?
It sounds like a thing you should have, right?
But what does that mean?
It means a job where you strive to do it well so your boss will approve and give you a promotion. But let’s be honest, it’s a job, even if it’s a fancy one.
Try to replace the word “career” with “job”.
“It’s not good for my job right now that I take a leave to travel the world.”
That sounds silly, right?
Try not to use the word “career”.
It makes you behave in a certain way that’s not really in your interest.
Avoiding the word “career” abolishes that tendency to put the world of jobs and salary on a pedestal as something almost sacred. Almost religious..
2. “There’s a Gap in Your/My Resume.”
Thinking of a resume as something fragile that unravels if you are not constantly on the go is probably one of the most foolish one of the most foolish mistakes you can make.
Nevertheless, both employees and employers often think along those lines.
You even hear the question during job interviews.
“Why is there a gap in your CV from 2009 to 2010?”
HR people ask these questions.
I think you should challenge it. Explain what you spent the time doing and emphasize what skills you got out of it.
Maybe you can even explain it on the resume so you tackle the gap question upfront.
3. “It’s Good for Your Resume”
I wish people didn’t make decisions solely based on how impressive it looks on a piece of paper.
But they do.
People take courses, do internships, and even pursue education and jobs because they think about what impression it gives on their resume.
Next time you say something about how it looks on a resume, try saying “It will look good on a piece of paper” instead.
Silly, right?
How about thinking about what skills you get from those pursuits and how you can use them in the future?
4. “I Can’t Afford to Take That Course”
The best investment you can make is an investment in yourself.
When you ask yourself if you can afford to do something, also ask yourself if you can afford not to do it.
When I sign up for a course, I always ask myself what it will take before I can earn that money back with the new skills I get.
There is usually not that much that needs to happen.
This is how entrepreneurs and investors think.
I don’t think much about what it costs – I think much more about what I can get out of it and what it can do for me and my clients in the future.
5. I Can’t Afford to Hire Help
I can’t afford cleaning help. I can’t afford an accountant. I can’t afford a babysitter.
Okay. So you say.
Have you calculated what you make in an hour?
Don’t you earn more than a cleaning assistant per hour? I should hope so.
You think like a wage slave who sees money as a fixed monthly salary.
Entrepreneurs and investors know that time is money, and that they need to buy more time by outsourcing so they have as much time as possible to focus on what they are good at.
6. “I Don’t Have Time to Pursue My Hobby”
You don’t have time to play tennis, swim in the ocean or do horseback riding (or whatever you love)?
You’re robbing yourself of the most precious thing in life … namely, life itself.
Time-poor people are the new poor.
Unfortunately, it’s very common to not prioritize old hobbies in order to have more time for a career.
7. “Do You Want to Meet for a Coffee in Week 34?”
Seriously?
Normal people don’t talk like that.
Oh, wait. All the career people do.
If you find yourself thinking in terms of ‘project weeks’ and have to plan beyond this week and next in order to schedule time for your best friend, it’s probably a sign you should kick it down a notch.”
8. “Sorry, I Can’t Tell You How Much I Earn”
It’s a shame to think like that, because you and your colleague have no opportunity to assess whether you get a reasonable salary or not.
At least be transparent with your colleagues. Transparency can put you and your coworkers in a better position when you have to renegotiate your salary.
9. “I Can’t Resign or Change Jobs Because They Need Me”
I’m sorry to tell you the harsh truth, but your workplace wouldn’t bat an eye at firing you.
You don’t owe them your life.
I made this mistake early on in my career when I worked as an office manager.
I thought the office would fall apart without me, and I postponed an internship at my dream workplace for 6 months (a newspaper).
To be in good standing with the new place, I found another guy to take the internship for the first 6 months.
Guess what. They hired him for a real permanent job – not me. He got there first.
The office management job couldn’t even find the time to write me a decent recommendation.
I still resent to this day that I wasn’t more selfish.
10. “What Am I Going to Do With All That Money?”
Some people think they will get corrupt if they have too much money.
They almost feel that it’s immoral to have more than their monthly salary in the bank account.
Where in the world does that idea come from?
Money isn’t dangerous. Money is a wonderful tool for living a great life.
Learn to appreciate money and make it grow so you have other sources of income than your paid work.
If you want to learn how to invest in stocks, you can download my investment book, Free Yourself, right here.
