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Additional Posts in The Worklife Bowl
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Chief
Y'all were too quick to judge
Pro
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This is so real. I’m constantly asking myself, “Do I want this promotion or am I just afraid of falling behind?” I’m learning that success doesn’t always mean climbing, it can also mean staying where you thrive. But yeah, the pressure to always want more is exhausting.
Conversation Starter
This is such a real thought that I always have
Yes! The toxicity of the “growth mindset” is that doing your job well is not enough. I am with you, I am happy with my pay, save yearly adjustments and don’t want the stress and responsibility of being a leader. Whenever I say this, it’s like I am admitting to having the plague in corporate America.
Conversation Starter
Great point
Pro
Did I write this? I’m done with ambition. I want to do my job, get my paycheck and sign off.
Conversation Starter
So true!
I don’t feel stuck, I feel enlightened to see beyond the BS. Why sell your soul? It’s a trap disguised as ‘the American dream’. There are other ways to make more money that don’t require nearly the same amount of sacrifice.
I think this is starting to come more normalized and that’s a great thing.
Conversation Starter
Good point
I absolutely do not want a promotion. I just do lateral moves if I want a change. I have work/ life balance right now, a promo would run that.
Chief
Faster you level up and make more money the sooner you can retire and really have peace
I totally agree. The partners here have constant performance improvement goals, and it's exhausting. Not everyone wants to be promoted every three to four years.
This is a wonderful narrative... I hope increases in popularity within the states.
Read Tim Ferris' 4-hour workweek, all of you
We have this toxic collective idea that somehow, if we're not moving upward, we're falling behind?
The reality is that when we're promoted, we're often exploited. Usually, we're decreasing our revenue per hour/effort, despite pay bumps.
There is so much wisdom in knowing when to not take on more. There's value in this.
We are not machines, much as we've been told we are.
Life your life, log off of work, explore hobbies, spend time with loved ones. I love productivity, but conventional parameters for it are quickly vanishing. Titles, hours worked, promotions, these things are evolving. So should we.
Conversation Starter
Great point
Conversation Starter
Totally! I’m pretty happy at the level I’m at and see the leveled above me take on a lot of stress and give up so much free time that I just don’t think it’s worth it. Obviously the pay bump would be awesome but there’s so much more to life.
Conversation Starter
Low stress is often better than a high paying job that makes you miserable
I have been turning down promotions for years. The next step up puts me in a salary situation that I do not want. It is saddening to see these younger people climbing over people to catch that next corporate ladder rung. They make it to a management role and find that the ones they climbed over do not respect them or their position. They are burned out, have no life, no friends, and no respect. They usually leave and start burning those bridges again. There is more to life than a career.
Conversation Starter
Makes perfect sense
Rising Star
I learned early on that I like to do the work, not delegate the work. Unfortunately it's the ones who delegate that get the pay raises.
Conversation Starter
Very true
Hmmm this hit me so bad, I’m currently in this position where I just want peace.
Conversation Starter
You're definitely not alone
I'm trapped by my own success right now. I've been promoted, and I'm very, very good at what I do. But it can't be worth it to live like this, not for too much longer anyway. I live modestly, but money is nice and I can save well for retirement. And I love feeling like I'm good at what I do.
It's f'n thrilling to be honest. I live on a near constant stream of adrenaline, socially and intellectually. But it's a lot. There aren't enough hours in the day. Or the week. Or the year. To do what I do and have a normal life.
Yup I worked at a place that was regarded as a promote or die environment. That’s not what I wanted and opted for a pay cut and slower work pace. It’s not always about the big bucks.
Conversation Starter
100%
I remember someone a while back this year saying that they were treated differently in the workplace after turning down a promotion to manage people.
As a DoD contractor, each available supervisor or manager position (those with employees working as subordinates, we would hold a board to ensure the opportunity wasn't simply an inside promotion. This way the company way be able to invest in a new leader while the in-house candidate could select if they were going to compete for the position.
Rising Star
This is a loaded question. We're taught to want that. If these promotions were all as they're dressed up to be,then yeah. I don't think all promotions are equal. I don't think all people that are promoted get treated equally. I think that not all promotions go to the right people. Here's a nasty thought...not all people that have the tenure,were mentored by the boss,should be promoted. Think on it like how tired people are of our legislators from time to time.
Conversation Starter
Good analogy
I’m the same I am at an age where I just want to come in do my job well and go home again! I don’t want promotions other people are welcome to them. thankfully my boss understands my point and has actually said that businesses need people like us to actually do the job and literally just get on with it.
Conversation Starter
100%
I found this back in 2019-2020, I was an IC making $250k and I was like this is it, I was about 28 at the time. Then inflation hit and to live in the same neighborhood as my coworkers the price increases from $6k a month for the mortgage to now $15k so nearly 3x in just 4 years. The cost of other things like private school, travel, etc also increased and so if before you needed to make $6k x3 to live there so just ~$240k then I realized now I needed to make $45k to be at the same ratio. So to live like $250k in 2020 now I needed $600k plus so then I went back on the hamster wheel to fix this.
I sadly work 2x the hours but I was able to hoard a ton of properties over that time so it was worth it so I had enough to retire by 32-32.
I have peers who work barely 35hrs a week as IC who make $340-400k in banking so o will downgrade to that soon since that is all I need now that I am debt free and that will help me invest heavily since as you know none of us will have a pension and maybe even SSI will be gone so for us to have the $1m in retirement our parents generation had in 2000 we will need in 2050 around $10m plus to be at the same level of comfort due to inflation.
Conversation Starter
Lol wtf did I just read
Capitalism doesn't know what to do with people that don't want more money over everything else
This is so timely, i am also thinking along the same lines
This is so real. I'm currently in a masters program for data science with a life science background. I previously worked at a hospital that determines my social life for the last four years. Now I work in agriculture research and they actively encourage my education and lifestyle. There are many more aspects to happiness than a dollar amount
Conversation Starter
Too real