{"id":25796,"date":"2014-05-06T18:50:54","date_gmt":"2014-05-07T02:50:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/?p=25796"},"modified":"2014-05-06T18:50:54","modified_gmt":"2014-05-07T02:50:54","slug":"5-reasons-tripling-income-achieved-nothing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/5-reasons-tripling-income-achieved-nothing\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Reasons Tripling My Income Achieved Nothing"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

 <\/p>\n

A few years ago I would drag myself into work every day, thinking “when I make more money I’ll be motivated and happy”.<\/p>\n

One year however, it happened. I moved from my inside sales role into the big league, working with larger organizations and being responsible for larger sales.<\/p>\n

That year\u00a0I made triple<\/strong>\u00a0what I was earning the year before.<\/p>\n

Sound good to you?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Actually, I learned, refined and achieved almost nothing from this. Here is why:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

1. Money wasn’t really my motivation<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you really think that earning more is going to get you out of bed in the morning and energized, my experience and 120 years of research<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0says that this is dead wrong.<\/p>\n

Money is simply a\u00a0by-product<\/strong>\u00a0of your passion, that you use to achieve other passions.<\/p>\n

In fact, half way through the year I started to struggle to keep going. In fact I explicitly remember waking up one morning and telling myself “you make more money now, so get up… Nothing.<\/p>\n

At this point I had to go back and revisit what actually motivated me – which was refining my (sales) craft, helping my customers achieve outcomes, and achieving my goals of home ownership.<\/p>\n

My Learning:<\/strong>\u00a0Make sure you continually revisit what your real goals and purpose are – and make sure they aren’t just the by-products of your true passion.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

2. You Don’t (Think You) Need To Learn When Winning<\/strong><\/p>\n

If I think about the trend of my learning and improvement over the years, when I was earning a lower income, I was doing audiobooks every day in the car, reading often, and constantly refining my skills.<\/p>\n

When I was achieving the money I thought I wanted, my mind felt like I was achieving my goal (which per the above wasn’t even really my goal).<\/p>\n

I was winning – so I didn’t have the need, time or desire to keep improving.<\/p>\n

The problem with this is that it is not sustainable<\/a><\/strong>. The year after I got a rude shock when the economy tanked, my customers got more cautious, and I wasn’t keeping my competitive edge up.<\/p>\n

My Learning:\u00a0<\/strong>Don’t think because you are winning that you don’t need to keep learning – in fact, when you are winning you should increase your investment in yourself to make sure next year doesn’t become hero to zero.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

3. I Became A Slight A**<\/strong><\/p>\n

For a slight moment there, I started to sway toward the socially constructed vision of what people with money are like.<\/p>\n

Precious about what they do and who they talk to (because my hourly rate was much higher now…) – which to an extent is logical in business but this was protruding into personal life.<\/p>\n

The reality is when I was with friends and family, noone’s time is more important than the others. I felt just because I earned more I shouldn’t be treated the same way, or things should be faster, that I shouldn’t be bothering helping people do things.<\/p>\n

My Learning:\u00a0<\/strong>Don’t let yourself get swayed by money toward arrogance – learn from the truly wealthy people who give their time to charity and causes – not from the wanna-be’s.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

“If you really think that earning more is going to get you out of bed in the morning and energized, my experience\u00a0and 120 years of research\u00a0says that this is dead wrong”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

4. I Didn’t Plan My Finances<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ok, so you are probably still saying that money makes the world go around.<\/p>\n

I admit that more income meant less stress (momentarily) around finances, but the other struggle was I didn’t have a plan to make the income sustainable, and spend it on the right things. We all hear about the sports stars making millions or dollars a year, and then being bankrupt the year they stop playing.<\/p>\n

I was guilty of using the excess income to buy lots of things that we didn’t really need, and in the long run this was going to hurt me – our expenses were still 1-1 or more vs income. Luckily, I realized very early this would not be sustainable in the long run, and quickly put a budget in place.<\/p>\n

I also realized that I wasn’t even using the income for the right goals.<\/p>\n

My Learning:\u00a0<\/strong>Put together a clear plan and structure around where your money goes, and where it should go – whether you are earning $1,000 a year or $1 million.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

5. I Feared Failure<\/strong><\/p>\n

Having finally ‘made it’, I started to fear failure. What was going to happen if I fell off my high horse, what would happen if next year I couldn’t afford the same spending or the same spotlight inside my company.<\/p>\n

The reality is, I have learned more in my life from my failures than my successes, and I should never have been worried about repeating this.<\/p>\n

My Learning:\u00a0<\/strong>Embrace the idea of failure, and experience it often – so long as you aren’t experiencing the exact same circumstances over and over.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In the end, I learned that it really wasn’t what I was earning that was important – and I would caution you on making this your motivation. Having clear goals, structure and mindset is a more important foundation. The money will then come, and with it, sustainable success.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

—-
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Leigh is a millennial sales executive, blogger and entrepreneur, with a passion for sales improvement strategies.<\/em><\/p>\n

If you care to trust more words of a millennial, take a look at www.Leigh-Fletcher.com <\/a>where I have a range of sales-focused articles which have been published on various sites like Entrepreneur, Business Insider, Salesforce and more.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I admit that more income meant less stress (momentarily) around finances, but the other struggle was I didn’t have a plan to make the income sustainable, and spend it on the right things. 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