Income - Careers & Extra Jobs - Part 1

This is a powerful lesson. I learned some new things while putting this together and I’m really excited to present this stuff to you guys. This is the one lesson where we tackle the income and all the others deal with the out-go. Now we know that if you have more out-go than in-come then you have a problem. But we are going to first define a couple things. This is a really good way to assess what you are doing and where you are going.

Vocation, Career, or Job - which do you have?

Vocation: This is something that gets you all fired up. For me, my vocation right now is personal finance. I love it. I could talk about this forever. I enjoy it. I love it. I live it. It is fulfilling to me and it energizes me. Think about something that get’s you all fired up. What is your vocation? Have you found it yet? If not, that’s okay. Not everyone finds it early in life. Some people may never find their true vocation, and that is okay. The important thing to remember is to look for it. Don’t get stuck in a rut and stop dreaming. I could have easily missed out on my vocation if I hadn’t stumbled on Dave Ramsey. It took him to open my eyes and once they were opened, I couldn’t get enough and this became my mission, my passion. It might have taken me 40 years to find it on my own. If you know what yours is, start making plans to follow it!

Career: You can certainly have a very fulfilling job that isn’t a vocation. My last job before I had my first son was working for a home health care agency that provided physical, occupational and speech therapy services to mentally challenged individuals. I wasn’t fired up about my line of work, but I enjoyed it, was fulfilled, and content. If I hadn’t had children, then chances are, that would have been my career. I think I would have been happy in it but it wouldn’t have gotten me as fired up as personal finance does.

Job: I think we’ve all had some of these from time to time, I know most of my past employment experiences were just jobs. Many many people can honestly say, “I hate my job.” Jobs are not something you want to have long term. Sometimes we have to have them to put food on the table to feed our family and that’s called being a responsible adult. But a job is not where we ultimately want to be. If you are in a job, then you should begin to lay out a game plan that you no longer have just a job….you have a career or better yet, a vocation. A job is not the end of the road – just a bump in the road towards finding what you REALLY want to do with your life. Some of our roads may have so many bumps we feel like we’re on the "wake-up line" on the shoulder.

So I urge you to really think about where you are right now.

Negative Career Situations

Sometimes even if you have a great career, vocation, or even a job, you are still faced with the problem that you just need to make more money. Yes, we need to manage what we make better and live on what we make, but sometimes we just have to make more money. About half of the families I deal with have had some kind of “negative career situation.” This means that they’ve either lost their job, gotten a cut in hours, they found a job for less money than they were making, and the household income drops. This develops a crisis.


How do we solve the crisis? We get more income going into the home. That means that if you are in the middle of a negative career situation, you need to find a higher paying job, find a way to make more money at the job you are at, get a second job, or even get a 3rd job. I realize that sometimes it is not easy during these unsure economic times to get a position in your field or area of expertise, but that is when the "job" comes into play. Sometimes you just have to have a job to get food on the table.

The first thing we will be focusing on tonight are the first jobs…the “real” jobs. The careers, vocations, and even those "jobs" that pay the bills (or at least we hope they do). We will later follow up with the second jobs and additional sources of income.

Careers


Did you know that the average job in America lasts 3.2 years? Based on that figure, the average person is expected to have 16-18 jobs in their lifetime! That means if you have been at your job for the last 5 years, you are well overdue for a job change. The days of having one job with the pension are pretty much over. I do realize that is not the case for EVERY American, but the majority of Americans change jobs every 3.2 years.

I personally think it's a good thing that we change jobs so often? Some good things about changing jobs every few years are that your pay remains competitive. I've worked with a person doing the same job that I was doing, and eventhough he'd been there for 11 years, he was only getting paid $1.50 more per hour than I was. The annual 3% raise isn't going to cut it in a changing and evolving environment.

Another reason changing jobs can be positive is that it keeps people more motivated to continue their education. If you are doing the same job day in and day out, you become comfortable and you no longer desire to stay current in various aspects of your field.

The third reason is that sometimes job changes allow us the opportunity to become what God designed us to become. It's just like a baby bird leaving the nest for the first time. That bird has to learn how to fly because the ground getting closer and closer is a great motivator. When we are given chances to change our jobs, we are also given the chance to spread our wings and fly.

The most important reason, in my mind, is that it keeps you from getting into a rut. Zig Ziglar said, "A rut is merely a grave with both ends kicked up." For anyone that has had a job where they were in a rut, you know that it is true. You know that you feel unfulfilled by the work you do, you aren’t happy going to work, you aren’t happy being at work, and when you lay in bed at night you dread having to wake up and do it all over again. Being in a rut crushes your spirit and robs you of reaching your potential.

Change

Change is a fact of life. It's not necessarily fun to keep up with change, but it is necessary to do so. If you do not keep up with change, then you will be left in the dust. In 5 years, about 85% of the products and services we use today will become obsolete. Don't believe me? Think back to when people used records, then 8 tracks, then cassettes, then CDs, now everyone uses MP3s. Or what about cell phones. I have a flip phone from 4 years ago and when I showed it in class, I got a couple of snickers because mine was only able to call people and take pictures. So you can see, everything changes and in order to keep up, you have to be constantly changing and evolving and keeping up with everything.

The rate of change is blinding. If cars had changed as much as computers in the last 25 years, you could buy a Rolls Royce for $2.98 that got 20,000 miles to the gallon. That's a little drastic, but you get the point.

In order to succeed, change must be anticipated. Wayne Gretzky explained how he did so well during games by saying, "I never skate to where the puck is, but where it's going to be." We need to anticipate the change so that when we're on the job market, we can show potential employers that we know what's going on. That we not only see the puck, but we know where it's going to be.

Power in Your Career

There are 5 keys to power in your career or vocation.

1. Look at Yourself. The more we understand ourselves the more we can move forward with boldness. Quit trying to be something you aren’t meant to be. Some of you may have had your parents tell you that you're going to be a doctor or a dentist. They always told you what you were going to be and it has absolutely nothing to do with your gift set. It has nothing to do with your passions or attitude and you got forced into it. It is a disaster for those people being forced into their parents' dreams.

2. Money is NOT a motivator: Money will not make you happy – YES think about money and return on investment, but it cannot be your motivator. The real motivator is meaning and a sense of purpose.

In the 1960’s UC Berkley did a rather interesting experiment. They hired a bunch of people who were out of work to dig a ditch. They paid them a fair wage which let’s just say was $5.00 an hour. They dug a ditch and halfway through the day they were told to fill it back in. A couple of guys asked why they were digging the ditch and were told that it was an experiment and that they were all just digging the ditch for no reason. The next morning only about 40% showed up. Because they showed up, their wages were doubled. Same thing happened. They dug a ditch, halfway through the day they were told to fill it back in. At the end of the day they told them all that they would double their wage the following day. Even knowing that their wage would be doubled…more than even a great wage for the day, only 40% of them showed up. What that means is that money wasn’t enough of a motivation for the people to do something that had no meaning. They couldn’t even mentally push themselves when they knew they were making no difference. There must be a sense of meaning and purpose and accomplishment. You have to feel like you’re getting somewhere and doing something. You have to be on fire about what you’re doing. Even when times are bad, you have a reason to keep going.

3. Don't just look at your abilities. Just because you have the ability to do something, doesn’t mean that it is well suited to you. This is the most common mistake in career planning. Don’t just look at ability, but at your direction and purpose. Just because I CAN take care of a whole bunch of kids that aren’t mine, it doesn’t mean that it’s something I SHOULD be doing because it doesn’t fit ME. You can do a job that you’re good at, but you hate it because you don’t feel that there’s meaning behind it.

4. You MUST be flexible. Be open to move things around. There’s an old saying that if you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans. Don’t be too rigid. If you are flexible and can go with the flow, but not just be a yes man or yes woman, then you are going to get ahead. Like everything else, plans change, you change. Don’t just feel like just because you’ve always been an accountant, you can’t change professions and become a cake decorator. You can always change and adapt to make yourself happy and to have a job that you truly enjoy.

5. You must find balance. Your job is just one tool for a successful life. You have to find a balance between work and play, but you also have to find a balance in the career you choose. There are 6 things that when they are all in balance, you will be happy and on fire about what you do.

The 6 Must Haves

1. Skills
2. Abilities
3. Personality Traits
4. Values
5. Dreams
6. Passions

If any of those are out of whack, then there’s a problem. If I am an excellent sales person and had a job in sales, then I would be able to use my skills and abilities of a sales person and I can exercise my personality traits of being a people person, that’s great. I can have dreams as to what I’ll do with all that commission, but if I’m selling credit cards, then I’m not going to be happy because it goes against my values because I hate credit cards, think they are evil and will never have one again as long as I live. Even though everything else lined up, it would go against my values to have a job like that.

So these 6 things are very important. When they are all balanced and present in a job situation, then you are happy with what you’re doing. You feel a sense of fulfillment.

Your Job is NOT Your Life!

Even when you have all 6 of those "must haves" you still must remember that your job is NOT your life - it is just one tool for a successful life. You do not derive your self esteem from what you do. All too often when men are asked who they are, they respond with what they do. They take way too much of their identity from their jobs, which is why a job loss is often accompanied by depression and anxiety. It is not only a huge blow to their ego, but they lose a sense of self. That is why it is so important to make sure to balance family, fun, spirituality, and your career. Instead of saying, "Hi, my name is Jim, I'm an accountant." you can say, "Hi, my name is Jim, I'm a husband, a father of 4, an avid bass fisherman, and I am the Young Men's President at church. Oh, and I'm also an accountant."

So we’ve talked about the keys to success, the importance of finding two different kinds of balance – balance in the type of job you have and balancing your personal time with professional time. All of these things are very important to discuss and think about. Really assess your current situation and see where you stand on these things. Now I’m not telling you to run out tomorrow and quit your job so you find something you really want to do. No…I’m saying to find out what you really want to be doing and then make a plan to make it happen over time.

Success

The things that have determined successful people are NOT driven by money. People who pick a job based on income are unfulfilled and even if their income is doubled they would still be as unfulfilled after the high wore off. Now success is not to be confused with wealth. Most times successful people end up wealthy because they are good at what they do because they love what they do, and in turn they become the best at what they do and end up in the top 2% earners in the industry. But the success is much more than wealth – it is fulfillment.

The 5 things that successful people possess are: Ambition, Desire, Drive, Motivation, Personal Style, and Attitude.

When I say personal style, I don’t mean wardrobe. I mean how you best function and where you best function. Understanding your personal style will tell you more about where you will function properly than your education. Education is great. I believe in education, but too often we think this is an automatic thing. Education has very little to do with blossoming in your vocation. You have to get your personal style into this. Someone who doesn’t like numbers and details shouldn’t become an accountant. Someone who doesn’t like people shouldn’t be in sales. You have a particular personal style. You were put together to do certain things – you just have to figure out what they are.

When we talk about attitude, it not only means how you view things, and how you treat others, it means that you have the "I will not be denied" attitude. I just love that. Those are the people who are ambitious, who get the job done. They are those who go and do, not sit and stew.