Hey everyone!!! 👋🏻👋🏻👋🏻
Not sure about you, but it has been a hectic week for me! 🔥
But that is just the way life goes sometimes; things happen in cycles. Trying to fight your way out of it isn’t always the most effective way; sometimes you just need to go with the flow. Make the time for the most important things, and learn to let some stuff go. It’s a key skill to have in today’s working world, but it is never easy.
Anyway, here’s the usual 3 things for you:
- A brief article; this week focused on making sure you’re valued at work.
- A quote worth reflecting on.
-
Enjoy the read!
I know how valuable your time and attention are, so thanks for sharing some of yours with me. I seek to ensure that I make it worth your while! Please reach out to me at tim@timparkins.com with any feedback, comments, or topic ideas for these newsletters. Or even just to say hello; I love to hear from you!
Have an amazing week and remember that “better is always possible”.
Tim
The ‘Airport Vs Grocery Store’ Theory: Your True Value
Quite some time ago, I heard someone give an analogy that really resonated with me. I don’t recall where I heard this analogy, so I can’t properly give credit, but thought it might be useful to examine it in the context of your career.
I know I’ve had this type of experience before, and am sure I’m not alone.
The analogy goes like this….
You can buy a bottle of water for $0.50 at the supermarket, $2 at the gym, $3 at the movies and $6 on a plane. The bottle of water is exactly the same. The only thing that changed was the place where it was being sold. So if you aren’t feeling valued, the problem might just be that you’re not in the right place.
Super interesting idea, which is why I thought I’d share and expand upon the idea a bit. I will approach it from the following angles;
- The importance of selling.
- How to figure out if you’re being valued at work (or not).
- Thoughts about how you might respond if you don’t feel valued at work.
Let’s dive in!
The importance of selling
The most crucial thing to understand here is that value is always subjective, depending on many factors. That is why people will pay different amounts for the same bottle of water; they believe it is worth more in certain situations. If you don’t believe that, imagine yourself stranded in the desert for a couple of days with no shelter. Would you value a few jugs of water or a bagful of diamonds more? All value is subjective.
Since value is subjective, doing great work is not enough. You need to ensure that others understand the value of the work you’ve done. In short, you need to sell.
Some people struggle to sell themselves or their ideas. It can feel you are being egotistical or something, that you are bragging about how great you are, and tooting your own horn. But if you aren’t able to get behind the work that you’ve done, why should others?
Not selling yourself, your ideas, or your work is selfish.
When people can’t see or understand the value you’re bringing, you end up depriving them of it. They don’t get to benefit from it. Instead, let people know what you’ve done, who it’s for, and what problem it solves. This applies to work you’ve done as part of your job, but also in your community, your family, and amongst your peers. There are contributions that only you can make, and people need to know that they exist.
Knowing if you’re being valued (or not)
Understanding the value you bring to the table and that you’re communicating it clearly is the first step. It is also important to recognize signs you’re not being valued despite your contributions. Here are some red flags to watch out for;
- Lack of acknowledgment. If you consistently deliver great work but are getting any recognition or feedback, that is worth paying attention to.
- Unfair compensation. If your pay is lower than industry standards or hasn’t gone up despite an increase in responsibilities, take notice.
- Lack of growth opportunities. If you aren’t being given opportunities to help you grow and develop in your career, it’s possible you’re not being properly valued.
- Work overload. Truth bomb – it is very common for organizations to reward high-performers with more work. After all, they are the ones that the organization can count on to deliver in a crunch. If you consistently deliver work that impacts, and keep having more work assigned to you, you’re probably not being appreciated properly.
An important note – this all requires self-awareness and getting feedback from others. After all, it is possible that what you delivered was less valuable than you thought. Or maybe you did it such that it really pissed people off, winning the battle but losing the war. Maybe you needed to do a better job communicating and selling what you built.
You will need to reflect on this and speak with others. Getting feedback is essential, because you (of course) are proud of what you did, if you put your full efforts into it. You need to figure out if the problem was with you or your work, or that you aren’t being appreciated. Either way, figuring out which it is will enable you to correct course and understand the lay of the land. This awareness enables timely course correction, be it through renegotiation or a pivot to new opportunities.
How to respond if you’re not being valued
If you’ve thought about everything, gotten feedback, and decided you’re not being valued enough, what’s the next step? Discovering you’re not being appropriately valued is a harsh realization. However, it’s also an opportunity for constructive change. With that in mind, let’s delve into some strategies you might employ.
People often believe that “hard work will eventually pay off” or that “speaking up might make things worse.” However, these notions are becoming increasingly outdated, especially in a work environment that is evolving rapidly with remote work, flatter hierarchies, a gig economy, and the endless opportunities for people to build businesses over the internet. The world of work is becoming more democratized, so you no longer need to keep your head down and stay in an environment that is not valuing you.
You can – and should – take concrete steps to ensure that your work is being rewarded appropriately. To be clear, that means that your rewards are commensurate with the value you add, not necessarily with the amount of effort you put in. Working hard is not enough; you need to be adding real value, solving genuine problems for people and organizations.
Strategic Approaches to Claiming Your Value
- Open Dialogue: The Nuanced Way. Instead of directly asking for more money or recognition, express your desire to add more value to the team. This psychological pivot provides an opportunity to discuss openly the value you’re currently bringing.
- Quantify Your Contributions: Put your ROI into focus. Prepare a document that quantifies your contributions in terms of Return on Investment (ROI) for the organization. This takes the conversation from subjective to objective ground, allowing you to reveal the value you add.
- Leverage Timing. Timing is key. Use company-wide performance reviews or the end of a successful project as opportunities to discuss your value.
- Flexibility in Compensation. Monetary compensation is not the only form of value. Explore options like work-from-home days, flexible hours, or further education opportunities. This broadens the horizon for negotiating your worth.
- Advocate Through a Third Party. Sometimes the message is better received when it comes from someone else. A peer, mentor, or a higher-up advocating on your behalf can help shift perceptions.
- Skill Monetization. If you don’t feel you’re getting enough value from your employer, capture some of that value outside of work. You might use platforms like Udemy, SkillShare, or Teachable to create courses based on your skills. This not only supplements your income, but serves as an external validation of your expertise.
- Public Thought Leadership. Publish articles, podcasts, or webinars on platforms like Medium, LinkedIn, X, or your own website. Public validation can sometimes work wonders to alter internal perceptions. By having an external audience show the value you bring, an employer may be more likely to acknowledge your worth. It also shows that they may need you more than you may need them, giving you a lot more negotiating power.
- Take on failing projects. Most large organizations have projects that are not going at all according to plan. These projects provide amazing opportunities to use as launch pads for explosive career growth. Most employees shy away from these projects, as they don’t want to be associated with something that is failing. But if you look at it from another perspective, these projects are literal gold mines. Often, they are already so far off track that your organization won’t completely blamed you if it fails. After all, you inherited a mess. These projects provide a massive upside, in that it can only get better! Improving a failing project not only shows your worth to the organization but also allows you to enhance your skills in an unfamiliar area of work.
Legal Concerns
Remember, some workplaces might have clauses against moonlighting or side gigs. Make sure you’re not contravening any rules by exploring external avenues for showcasing your value. To prevent conflicts of interest, some organizations ask you to reveal any external businesses you operate. Before going down that path, make sure you’ve checked into any restrictions and you’ve disclosed appropriately.
Conclusion
Feeling under-valued can be a dispiriting experience, but it’s one you have the power to change. Hopefully, you now have some ideas about how you might address this concern. While it may feel overwhelming, as there are many paths to help resolve the issue, you should also feel empowered. That there are so many options means you should be able to find a combination that will work for you and your unique situation.
Your call to action
Ready to unlock your hidden superhero at work? 🦸It’s time for the world to see your true value.
How much longer will you remain stuck in a job that makes you miserable? How many more days of your one and precious life will you waste away, thinking that someday you’ll be in a better place?
Reading content like this can help – but ONLY if you get out of your head, stop making excuses, and take action. Not tomorrow. Now.
Book a one-on-one session with me today (for under a hundred bucks!) and together let’s forge your unique path.
Transform your work into something that works for you, rather than something you dread doing.
Quotation that I have been pondering
The American author and journalist Hunter S Thompson has a brilliant quote that has shaped my thinking for years;
“Beware of looking for goals: look for a way of life. Decide how you want to live and then see what you can do to make a living within that way of life.”
This is pure gold! Most people approach their careers in the complete opposite manner. They pick a job or field to work in based on factors such as;
- how much it pays
- fancy-sounding, ego-boosting titles
- what they think they can get based on the skills they have
Instead, intentionally design your work life so that you spend more of the time doing the things you enjoy doing and are good at. Do so in a manner that corresponds to how you want to live, tweaking and improving it over time.
That is the recipe for having a work life that you don’t need to take a vacation from – because it fits perfectly with how you wish to live.
Journal Prompt
A key skill that will allow you to develop a career that provides meaning is to the ability to shift your mindset to that of being a creator rather than a consumer. The very act of creating, of bringing something new into the world, of allowing your unique perspective to shine through, changes things in your world. It even changes you.
So for this week’s journal prompt, consider the following questions;
“What is one thing I’ve always wanted to create? Why don’t I create it?”
It doesn’t need to be something that someone asked you to create, or something that you feel will change the world. Nor does it need to be something that you can monetize. The point is just to create, allowing yourself to see how you can contribute.
More creating and less consuming is the way to a deeper, more meaningful career – and life.
