In any workplace, there are those who perform at their highest level and those who seem to drag their feet. High performers are driven, motivated, and consistently achieve or exceed expectations. On the other hand, lazy workers often procrastinate, miss deadlines, and require more supervision. Who coined the phrase “work life balance” was it the lazy ones? Perhaps it is the individuals who feel entitled? Instead of wondering why, instead let us focus on why it is better to focus on being a high performer instead. The idea is to earn more income as we age right? No one wants to be working minimum wage past 40 years of age and thus is why we must work harder and be more valuable with our specialized skills.
What Is This “Work Life Balance”?
We all have bills to pay. To earn the income necessary to survive we all need to work. The way you earn your income can vary. There are tons of jobs available working various hours from hard manual labor to sitting on a desk all day work. What job you choose is up to you. Before you applied for that job you already knew what you got yourself into. So, this leads to me ask, what is this work life balance we hear about? If you want a easy job then go apply for one. Working anywhere requires you to do things you don’t necessarily want to do but must do to earn a paycheck. Choose wisely.
Individuals who constantly complain do not solve anything. I have always had a colleague complain about something. From the temperature of the room to they are tired, they are entitled, they get offended by everything, they think they are too valuable to the company and should get a raise, etc… I’ve heard it all. Tell me your complaints and I’ll tell you how far you’ll achieve success or be unemployed in the corporate world.
Trading Time for Money Is A Losing Battle
What is a JOB? A J.O.B. or just over broke is an arrangement you agree upon with a company where you trade your time for money. Usually, these are jobs that do not require much skill or brain power. I’m not saying they are easy, most are simple jobs but some such as manual labor can be taxing on your body. For every hour you work, you earn an agreed-upon hourly pay rate. If you work over 40 hours a week you will receive overtime pay which is your hourly pay plus divided in half per hour. These are the jobs that are supposed to help you while you educate yourself to learn a skill that pays a salary.
As a salary worker you are still trading time for money but no matter how many hours you work, there is no overtime pay like those who are working hourly positions.
You want a salary position as it means you are working with a company with a skill that is valuable in the marketplace. Usually, these positions pay very well if your skillset is valuable enough. Achieving salary status is not a losing battle compared to an hourly position. Most hourly positions are miserable to work and shouldn’t be a long-term goal. Let’s say you work for a company that only pays $15 an hour and it is for 40 hours a week. That doesn’t give you much income to live off of. In fact, you won’t get far with that. You’d have to get a 2nd or 3rd job to make it these days. This is why hourly is a losing battle. You will not make it.
Trading Results That Provide Value
This section applies to those who are salary, self-employed, entrepreneurs, business owners, and such. They can be referred to as the top performers who love to solve problems, meet strict deadlines, and challenge themselves, we like to take a different approach in the corporate world. Unfortunately for those entitled mindsets, this route requires effort and hard work to accomplish tasks day in and out. This is where individuals trade results that provide value via salary usually or self-employment.
Hard work comes with great rewards but only if you can deliver the results needed.
There is no work life balance here. This is for the high performers who want to achieve success, to challenge themselves to see how far they can go. Great risk also means great rewards. Income earned here can be very lucrative and that is what makes this route exciting.
The higher your income means the more workload and stress comes with it. It is not always easy but it is rewarding. This is the goal everyone should strive for but of course, this is just my personal opinion.
Conclusion
What gets you up in the morning? Is it the “work life balance” or is it the thrill that today I’ll be able to get X amount of work done to provide value for X clients and potentially score a big profit of X in cash?
Earning more income does not make you better than anyone else. There are individuals who love to solve problems and challenge themselves. In doing so, they are rewarded in lucrative ways. Some are more driven than others, no matter what career path you choose or job you hold, all that matters is you and your family. Working at an hourly pay job doesn’t mean you are lazy. Picking up a job or two is a great way to earn additional income, no matter what age you are. We all have to do what we have to do to survive. No judgment here. If anything, I hope this inspires whoever reads this article to want to earn more and do more.
The way I see life is we all came to earth for some reason. Will you just play life safe so you can take it easy, or, will you take a risk and see how far you can go? Remember your ancestor who just followed the crowd and didn’t take any risks in life? I don’t remember or ever heard of them either.
Make something happen.