Your Present and Future Potential
Be cautious about your present potential for earning income. If your current employer loses revenue or funding and staff needs to be cut, including you, what options will you be qualified for to replace that income?
That may sound silly to you now. But I have experienced that several times over my working career. I know it is better to change employers voluntarily than involuntarily.
There are two different perspectives on your earning potential. First, you have the potential to get raises and grow in responsibility with your current employer. Or, second, you have the potential to find better income options with other companies that need your skills.
Accepting your present knowledge base as being enough to carry you through your career could be a big mistake. Will the pay you expect over the next few years be enough to cover inflation and growing family needs?
That is why I want you to consider learning new skills as being as important as your savings and investment plans.
Your Plan for Learning
Are you happy with your career choice? Are you happy with your career income potential? Do you need options to supplement your income?
You must give yourself a reason to learn new skills and other income options. Otherwise, you will never be motivated until you lose your current job.
You must not limit your potential by limiting yourself to what you see locally or what you observe on your travels. There are literally hundreds of industries, thousands of employers in those industries, and thousands of different types of jobs.
If you perceive limited opportunities in what you want to do today, then, keep trying to learn where other opportunities may be.
Pay attention to what interests you. Then, ask yourself, what are the related skills needed to be good at doing related jobs and what are the potential jobs and income?
Give yourself time to accumulate your understanding. Without a plan to understand, you will always be at the mercy of local employers and their reactions to the economy, with little concern over your personal economy.
That may sound unfair, but you need to understand that you create your own future based on your understanding of what to do, when to do it, and how to grow your potential for income and stewardship of your earnings. Every employer has their own welfare to consider before yours.
My purpose in presenting this message is to help you build a better mindset for money and your responsibility to improve your potential for a future livelihood.
Make Learning Go Faster
Eyes roll when I suggest you make more time for study, for reading, and for research. I know that time seems very limited every day.
For that reason, I will offer some tips to speed up the process for learning:
- Learn to read faster. There are books and articles related to this topic. Read a few to improve your ability to read faster and understand more.
- Learn to focus on specific interests. Do a limited amount of research to qualify if that interest is worth pursuing. Some interests are limited to geographic areas. Some interests are limited to only a few industries. Make an assessment and journal your thoughts for potential research later.
- Keep a list of books to read. Then, tie that to a list of books read and the value of reading them again later.
- Do some casual reading, including fiction that can both distract your mind and introduce you to other potential topics to research.
- Keep a separate list that will require further action, such as classes to take, certifications, apprenticeships, or degrees.
- Set some annual goals for reading. Additional knowledge will help you refine those goals. Two or three years of this kind of effort can greatly improve your perception of your income potential and work opportunities and motivation for doing well in any job you pursue.
We all have more potential than we allow ourselves to see!
My desire is that you can give yourself a chance to grow in potential income and asset building!
Help Your Mind Comprehend
Our parents tried to instill some hope for your life and success. However, their message was limited by their own experiences. You can make your own observations about that.
There are many who find success with developing an idea and feel you should be able to do the same. But that was their comprehension, not yours. And comprehension is not easy to teach. It must be experienced.
That is why you must read and study to give your mind enough information to help you see what you need to see to comprehend how things work or the concept that was shared. Your mental factory needs material to build understanding.
The more you know, the more you will be able to understand, to comprehend.
Broaden Your Horizon
There are a lot of daily details that can distract you from being able to see the bigger picture of your personal finances. That is like driving down a road with a line of trees on both sides of the road.
When you make the effort to be persistent in your learning, you increase your chances that you can find a bigger opportunity and greater work experience with potential for income and satisfaction. That would be like the experience of driving on a road with a limited view and coming to a hill that offers a grand view of a river valley with lush growth and recreational opportunities!
Knowledge Accumulates
Whether it is from reading or experiences, your knowledge accumulates. Some of them are useful and some are not.
The job you have now has limited requirements in skills to do it well. But better paying jobs with more responsibilities will require more skills, some you will learn on the job, but others must already be in place. However, your success in any job will come from the preparations you made along the way for doing that job well.
There are some skills that can be learned and improved with experience, such as organization, time management, and delegation. They will help your efficiency and ability to do what is required of you in any job!
Build Your Arsenal of Knowledge
Yes, you must compete for jobs. And, at times, it can seem like a losing battle. That is a good reason to use strategy in how you approach your job security and add to job income options.
Adding skills and updating skills is very important. Being able to see and understand the advantage skills and knowledge can give you in the battle for the jobs you want is critical to your future success.
There is potential for the pain of disappointment. However, there is the thrill of victory when you succeed in winning the job you were prepared to do!
Any strategy you compile has a greater potential for success when you build an arsenal of knowledge!
Live Long and Well
It takes years to grow from toddler to adult. That sounds like a lot of time to grow. However, did you make use of that time to be prepared for adulthood?
Competition makes many of us feel like losers. However, the real reason could be as simple as us trying to play the wrong game.
We all have the potential for doing something we enjoy that can provide an income for our needs in life. That is personal and it is our finances.
My hope is that you will make a persistent effort to add knowledge with the perception that it will accumulate to your understanding, to your personal benefit, and to your potential as you set goals for a better future.
Please be good to yourself by giving yourself time to learn and increase your potential for a satisfying career.
Then, as you build a better mindset for money and what it can do for your peace of mind and as a benefit to others, you can learn to live well and learn how to share that understanding.