Why you worry about your income and how to get past this

When you are trying to find a new working life it’s only normal to worry about how you can get the same income elsewhere.

It is normal but it is NOT natural.

I have talked about the lie we have been sold that organisations are machines and, hence, how we, as workers, are machines within the machine.

Well, one of the smaller lies is that people are controlled by carrots and sticks with money being the most obvious carrot.

In a machine you only need fuel, energy of some sort, to keep them operating. In the natural world it is more complex and humans, in particular, need meaning to keep them motivated.

A brief aside about sticks. The biggest stick is lack of money — my relationship relies on me being able to provide a nice life for me and my family.

In fact, we have a variety of needs which are categorised as connection, honesty, peace, autonomy, physical well-being, play and meaning (thanks to the Needs inventory from the excellent Centre for Nonviolent Communication who provided these categories).

The reason you are focusing on your income is because in a world of machines the ONLY thing that is important is the fuel.

In the human or natural world, you need to ALSO listen to your feelings whether that is a nagging doubt, feeling demotivated or bored or hoping to make a bigger contribution.