Underearning

The first question is not what people like you earn. It is what you want to earn.

How much money do you want to earn?

For many of my students, I am the first person who has asked them that question. They may be in their forties, fifties, or sixties. They have spent years working, paying bills, and participating in the economy without stopping to decide what they want their own income to be.

If you have never asked, start there. You may be earning less than you are capable of earning without recognizing it.

What underearning means

Underearning is earning less than you are capable of earning when you desire to earn more.

That last part matters. I am not suggesting everyone should make more money or that everyone should want one hundred thousand dollars. I am speaking to the person who wants to earn more and is not living into that capacity.

If you consciously choose a lower income because that is what you want, that is different. The work is to know whether you are making a choice or accepting a limit you have not questioned.

You can make three hundred thousand dollars, one hundred thousand dollars, or two million dollars and still be an underearner. The number alone does not answer the question. Your desire and capacity are part of the definition.

Separate earning, spending, and working

Underearning is not the same thing as overspending. Someone can earn what they are capable of earning and spend all of it. Someone else can be very frugal and still underearn.

It is also not the same thing as underworking. Many underearners work incredibly hard and put in long hours. Telling them to work harder misses what is actually happening.

Ask yourself three separate questions: Do I underearn? Do I overspend? Do I underwork?

Tell yourself the truth about each one. They can exist together, but they are not interchangeable.

Notice the cost of not looking

People sometimes tell me they do not want to make more money because they do not want to think about money all the time. But underearning can make money occupy far more of your mind than you want it to.

You worry about bills, about whether you can do the things you want, or about what would happen if the person who supports you lost their job. Those thoughts can create stress and conflict in your relationships and with yourself.

Debt can also enable underearning. If you keep putting the difference on a credit card, you may avoid looking at what you want to earn.

Support from a partner, parent, or inheritance is not a problem in itself. The question is whether it makes it easier to avoid earning more when earning more is what you actually want.

Put underearning in the result line

If underearning is your result, look at the actions producing it. What are you doing, and what are you not doing?

Some people sabotage themselves by missing work, doing sloppy work, or not scheduling calls with clients. Others do not ask for opportunities, do not ask how to add more value, or do not ask what they could do to make more money.

You may stay in a position without growing. You may avoid planning, setting goals, or looking at other possibilities. You may blame someone else for your income rather than taking responsibility for the choices available to you.

These are actions and inactions to examine. Underneath them are feelings and thoughts. The Model gives you a way to see how your thinking creates the result you are calling underearning.

It is not your job's job to make you happy

A common obstacle is believing you can only take a job if it makes you happy or feels sufficiently purposeful.

I talked with someone who loved teaching yoga and wanted to make much more money. She was not earning the amount she wanted in that work and was not willing to consider work that paid more. Those were choices she needed to see clearly.

Your happiness and your job are separate things. Happiness comes from your thinking. You can work on your happiness and growth within a job instead of requiring the job to produce those feelings for you.

If you leave high-paying work because you believe the job is responsible for making you happy, you may carry that same expectation into the next position. I want you to notice the belief rather than automatically treating the job as the cause of your feelings.

Stop making income a moral question

Being a minimalist does not mean you cannot earn money. Minimalism is about what you choose to buy and have in your life. You can earn a lot and choose not to fill your life with things.

Making money and being a good person are also separate choices. There are people with money who are wonderful and people with money who are not. The money does not decide who they are.

If you feel guilty for wanting to earn more, look at that thought. If you resent people who earn more than you, look at what that resentment creates.

You do not have to choose between earning money and loving your family, contributing, or being a good person. Notice when you have turned those into either-or choices.

Talk about real numbers

Amy Porterfield's willingness to talk about making a million dollars changed my life. Hearing a real number opened up what I believed was possible.

I talk about numbers because I want other people, especially women, to have examples of what they can create. If we never talk about money, how will someone know what to aim for or what they want to negotiate?

Seeing people in my coaching community make three hundred thousand dollars, a million dollars, or more changes the conversation in everyone's mind. What once seemed extraordinary can begin to feel normal.

You do not have to limit yourself to what people earned in the past. Consider what you want to create in your future.

Let the objections come up

Choose an amount you want to earn and ask why you want it. Then let the objections appear.

The fears, old programming, insecurity, and concern about other people's opinions are useful to see. Whether you pursue the number or not, understanding those thoughts lets you make a conscious choice.

Instead of deciding that a nurse, writer, or life coach can only earn a certain amount, ask what possibilities you could create. You may not have an example yet. You can consider becoming the example.

Then examine your action line. Are you asking, showing up, growing, planning, and managing your mind? Are you willing to delay gratification? Are you taking responsibility instead of making excuses?

I would not have known that earning a million dollars was underearning for me if I had never questioned what else was possible. My reason was to explore my potential and show what could be done. Your reason may be different.

Start with the question. Decide how much you want to earn. Look honestly at the thoughts, feelings, and actions between you and that result.