Every day you get up and go to work. And, if you are like most people, you work really hard.
And, in return, you get paid.
But are you just getting a paycheck?
Did you know there is another kind of income that, in many cases, is even more important than your paycheck?
Are you getting this kind of pay, too?
There are two kinds of income that you can receive – physical and emotional.
Physical income includes your paycheck, bonuses, health insurance, retirement matching and anything else that comes in the form of dollars and cents.
Emotional income is feeling you get from your work. It includes the pride in accomplishing a big project, the satisfaction of helping a client solve a problem, the camaraderie of working with people you like and care about and the hope of having a better month or year in the future.
When we speak of success, we often focus on the physical income side of things. Earning more money is important; don’t get me wrong. I’m a huge fan of fat bank accounts.
But it is the emotional income that we crave deep down inside. It’s the pat on the back from our boss recognizing our hard work.
It is the coworkers who remember our birthday and surprise us with cupcakes.
It is the client who takes time to send a letter noting our terrific service to them.
If you take away the emotional income, the job sucks.
My question for you this week is, are you getting enough emotional income? Make a list of all the things in the last week that you were paid emotionally.
If you aren’t getting paid what you are worth, how can you improve your job so you are?
Note: if you are a business owner or manager, are you paying your employees enough emotional income? If not, you run the great risk of losing your very best.