Worth Defined
- Brian Walsh
- Sep 21, 2022
- 3 min read
I’m sure by now you have heard the story shared around all over the place about worth being defined by a number of things including who is looking, where they are looking and some other circumstances depending on the number. At the end of the day, every object, person, item, etc. has some kind of worth to someone somewhere.
My sons for a while liked to collect Pokemon cards and Funko Pops. They would often come to me telling me how much a particle card or character was worth. My reply was always consistent… “Then sell it.” To which they would always tell me no, they cannot possibly do that it is worth too much and their expectation was that it would continue to be worth more and more everyday they had it. But as many of us that grew up collecting baseball cards, this is not exactly true. I sold my entire collection of baseball and basketball cards for $50 recently. Don’t worry, there were no really valuable cards in there from what I can tell and card values have changed so much over the years. I had a good dozen plus cards that were put in plastic protective cases keeping those rare cards in pristine condition. One in particular I recall paying about $20 for, who knows how much time and money I spent on these. Regardless they were now worthless to me, and I was happy to not have to move them around my basement any longer, but to someone else they may be worth much more.
Now this all brings to the point of this, are you being moved around the basement or are you worth something. What do you believe you are worth? How do you know what you are really worth?
To answer these questions you have to dig down in and do your research. For your field, level of responsibilities, etc. what are others like you being paid. Sure this will take some time. You can do some quick Google searches to find out the pay scale in your particular area/field based on your location. Even better than that, I am sure you can find some people on LinkedIn or other networks to connect and find out to do some comparison. This is always a touchy subject, but remember you are trying to get a ball park, are you getting paid what you are worth.
Then of course, there is the last step. Put yourself out there! Go apply for some jobs, whether you think you are qualified or not and get your foot in the door for some opportunities that are fitting. When you get a job offer that is the ultimate answer to what you are worth to someone beyond your current management. Listen, you may have some long-term goals for your company, or plans for where you want to go, but be open to new opportunities. These will grow you and expand you beyond your limits. Managers are proven to not always be the best. Don’t get me wrong, there are some great people managers out there, but there are also many not so great ones (C’mon admit it, managing people is hard and not everyone has a talent for this, but the natural progression in careers is to one day lead people).
Take some time and evaluate yourself, are you getting paid what you are worth? I’ve coached people that are ready to move, those that are not and those that are just going to wait for that promotion to come their way. The truth is that you can do any of those, but if you want that promotion or that bump in pay, the best way to get it is to go after it. If you are waiting for your company to step up or your manager, you may be waiting a very long time.
I also guarantee if you are not willing to bid on jobs or find your worth it is fear holding you back, and there is really no better way to say this then how FDR put it “The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself.” So get after it, and if fear is holding you back, see my other post on Fear (Old site link http://xcelerateyou.com/blog/face-your-fears-head-on/).
Podcast Recommendation: This one from Whitney Johnson was fantastic. Stephen Covey always brings some words of wisdom to challenge you on your journey.
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