Captain’s log, stardate 20220108
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Money is never enough
When people apply to my private coaching program, the second to last question on the application form is:
“What would you like to achieve from our engagement?”
It’s extremely common for the answers to that question to center on some sort of financial success metric.
Stuff like:
- Increase annual revenue from $150k to $300k by the end of the year
- Maintain annual income of $250k but working 20 hours per week instead of 50-60
- To double my coaching investment in the first 90 days
Having specific numbers like these is a great starting point but it masks the deeper reality.
Invariably, there are lots of unspoken - yet non-negotiable - constraints that come along with the financial success metric.
People often lead with the money goals, but in reality it’s almost never the most important thing.
For example, let’s say a React developer came to me and said:
“I want to go from doing $90k per year to $300k.”
And I said:
“No problem! Borrow $100k from somebody and buy a Dickie’s Barbecue Pit You’ll hit $300k in the first year, even with the loan repayment.”
LOL! No…
Non-starter, right?
Turns out… it’s not just the money that matters.
In fact, money might not even be in the top three for most people I’ve worked with.
People care a lot about non-monetary things like:
- Maintaining their current identity
- Leveraging their best talents
- Having control over who they work with
- Autonomy over their schedule
- Flexibility to work from anywhere
- Not doing work that they feel is tedious or boring (or unethical)
- And so on…
Here’s the thing…
When you list out your objectives for this year, be sure to include the non-monetary stuff that matters to you.
Once you have that list, ask yourself:
“If I did have all this, how much money would I really have to make to be happy as a clam?”
Yours,
—J