Over the past two decades, there’s been a movement gaining ground against meritocracy and competition.
From participation awards to platitudes like “you should play the game for the game’s sake, not for it’s rewards”…
From the exaggerated emphasis on “doing work you love” to old adages like “money isn’t the be all end all”…
From sayings like “everything happens for a reason” to “just keep a positive attitude and things will work out”…
There are a lot of dangerous and destructive thoughts roaming the zeitgeist.
I call them dangerous, because they can be, and often are, misinterpreted and misleading.
I call them destructive, because they damage an individual’s potential by encouraging unhealthy coping.
So… Allow me to level with you:
Whether you like it or not, whether you agree with it or not, whether you support the free market ideology of capitalism or not… We live in a capitalist world order.
The fundamental tenet of capitalism (be it shareholder or stakeholder) is the conceptual junction of “private property” with “free markets”.
What this juncture means is that, we order our society and our collective action – how we organize our production, how we care for one another when we are in need, etc – we order ALL of it around MONEY.
Money is THE store of value.
Money is THE crystallization of human time in paper form.
And – ultimately – money is THE measuring stick when it comes to career success.
Hint: That’s why we call it “net worth”…
Career Success = Money?
Is it really that simple?
And why is money that important?
Well… For starters, money is important as a measure of success, because it’s objective.
Second, money you earn is important as a career success metric, because it measures you as a source of value.
This is because, the money you earn is – fundamentally – the symbolic representation of the value you have created for others. It is the total reflection of your contributions. (Of course, I’m assuming you live in a country with rule of law, rather than a country run by bandits. And I can assume that, because… For the most part… I know our audience.)
But those two reasons (i.e. objectivity and measurement of value) aren’t all… It gets deeper than that:
A career is technically defined as “a journey through which you create value for other people in exchange for money”.
In other words, even the word career itself is literally defined in relation to money!
Think of it this way: Your measure of success is directly related to the amount of value you’ve created for others…
And others demonstrate the fact that you have been valuable to them by paying you!
Meaning, how much you’ve been paid is a perfect reflection of how much value you’ve created, making it the best metric to measure your career success.
Your Success Depends on Other People
Keep this in mind: You are not the judge of the value you create for others. Others are.
Neither are measures like how hard you work, how rare your skills are, or how long you’ve worked to complete a particular goal representative of the value of your work.
Other people determine the value of your work. Exclusively.
And they make this determination of value using an objective mechanism – money.
Your job title. Your credentials. Your professional awards and recognition. The various 3 letter acronyms before and after your name… These are short-hands. Proxies. Signaling tools… That allow us to *hint* at your career success, without having to disclose your bank statement.
Sure, they *may* relate to the value you create for others, but they are not actually representative of that value.
These other indicators of career success aren’t objective. Some might think of you as a “big wig” after you get your “Director of Operations” title. Whereas others might think of you as a newbie business leader. And they would both be wrong: because not all directors are created equal – some make $100k per year. Other’s make $10M per year.
Without that disclosure, the title is a meaningless gauge of accomplishment.
More importantly, these other indicators of success such as titles can be – and have been – gamed. It’s not just that people lie and exaggerate. But it’s also that these indicators are subject to cronyism and nepotism.
In a world where serial plagiarists can become heads of highly esteemed universities, it is best to assume that anything that can be gamed, has been gamed.
Fortunately, your net worth cannot be gamed. It is what it is.
And as such, it is the perfect measure of your career success.
Even though…
Money Is NOT Be All End All – When It Comes to Life
Your net worth might be the perfect measure of your career success. But it is not a measure of you.
Or even a measure of your satisfaction with your career.
Yes… Of course… There are other dimensions of importance such as happiness, personal fulfillment, working on projects you’re interested in, working with people you like, care about, and maybe even love. I’m not denying any of that.
In fact, I am – as I always have – recommending that you maximize your career fulfillment in every dimension of measurement that’s important to you.
It is a completely acceptable trade-off to leave some money on the table to have a job you love, or to work only 2 days a week to spend time with your family, or to work with people you can learn from, or to work in an environment with greater earning potential down the road…
These are all legitimate personal strategies for career fulfillment.
All that being said…
“Fulfillment” and “Success” are different words for a reason!
When it comes to success:
Focus On Money
The one and ONLY dimension of measurement of “success” in your career that we can all agree on is money. And it’s actually a great tool for that measurement.
Is it the perfect tool for that measurement? Perhaps not. But it’s a reliable, objective, and standardized one.
Is it a good measurement for other values, like success in life? No. Not at all.
Is it a uniform measurement? No. Your idea of success might be 7 figures, whereas mine might be 9 figures. Everyone has a different number.
Is money the only thing you should focus on about your career? Of course not.
Remember, you are not in control of how much money you get directly. You are only in control of the value you create – meaning, you should focus on creating value rather than chasing money.
But again, all that being said, you DO need to consider money as – I argue – the most important variable when tracking your career success.
Perhaps you should take out your tax returns, and build a little graph of how much you’ve made annually over the past few years. I promise, it will be an interesting experience…
When it comes to career success, money really matters.
This is why, I implore you to remember: Be intimately aware of any trade offs you are making when you leave money on the table in your employment (we all do), but also, keep money as the central variable in the way you measure your progress. (see the dollars earned per second of attention discussion here)
Keep Your Money & Net Worth Top of Mind
Keep money in mind, especially when you are applying for jobs and, and double especially, when you get an offer and are going into negotiations.
You want to be in the “money getting” and “money is extremely important” mindset when you go into negotiations. Because, guess what…
IT IS!!!
And your job going into negotiations is to get every possible penny, and then some more.
In fact, I really, genuinely want you to be paid as much as humanly possible. I see every single dollar you earn as a win for our organization, as well as the world.
Why? That’s because, in earning that dollar, you are not only improving our track record of being top earners, but also contributing your gifts to the world. You are making all of our lives better.
When you get paid, you are helping humanity. So… Thank you!
Remember: Money is good. Get some. Then get some more!
PS – If you are a professional who earns through employment, I also think you should learn how to do this effectively.