I was at a conference yesterday, and Jason Young from Culturetopia said something that rang true to me. He said, “I want you to be successful, but don't settle for money.”
His point was that while money is necessary, it is more important to be happy with your life than to make a lot of money. Jason told a moving story of changing from a position he loved where he was developing people to one where he was making more money but hated. He floundered in the new role. Eventually, he was able to move back into a role doing what he loved and flourished once again.
I've personally experienced this. My love is solving problems and helping people grow. Luckily my current role allows me to do both, but I've done other things in the past that aren't part of my strengths, and that drained life from me. I took a pay cut to do what I loved, which ended up eventually being a pay increase as I flourished in that environment.
One resource that Jason mentioned was one of our previous books of the month, “Strengthsfinder 2.0 by Tom Rath.” If you want to be successful, find your strengths and what you love doing, and do that. Another excellent resource for this is our career and personality testing tool which is available either for purchase or is free for all members.
Like Jason, I want you to be successful. But don't settle for money.
