Skip to main content

clarity on your goals when working for someone

Now, this isn't about organisational goals or KPIs, but your private, personal goals.

Goals that you or your boss set for your job, those are the easy pieces, it's all about faster, cheaper, better, not for you, but for the company :)

Most employees will align their efforts towards such goals in order to meet targets and get their performance reviews in order.

The more difficult, and yet, often neglected goals are those for yourself as a person. Your own private goals, that you probably will not share with anyone in the office, except for very close friends and family members. 

I am talking about the answers to these questions:

1. Why I am in this job?

2. How long do I want to stay in this job?

3. How will this job help me in my financial objectives?

4. How much personal sacrifices am I willing to make for this job?

These are very important questions. You must have crystal clear clarity on these things while you hustle daily in your job, else you will be running around like a headless chicken. And who benefits from your ignorance/neglect of your own life goals, where you don't draw lines? Your boss and the company. He/she will get his/her promotions, bonus that allow him/her to hit his/her own life goals (if they have one), while the company will do well and enrich the owners/shareholders. Maybe you'll gets scraps, leftover budget for bonus and raises, distributed in some "fair" way among you and your peers in the team.

Remember, NO ONE is indispensable in the company. Even the founder/CEO can go missing and things will continue, and a replacement CEO will be found shortly. Assigning self-importance is good, as we all want to have a sense of responsibility as a good worker. But too much of it, and you will over sacrifice for nothing extra in return. We all work for money, let's be honest. To someone who tells me "I love my job! The money is secondary!",  I will always ask them : So will you work in this job for free??

So, if you are on vacation, please don't work, unless the company is going bankrupt and you are called in to fix some emergency. Likewise, if you are very sick and need to rest/sleep, get well before starting to work again. No one will appreciate you losing your health for work. No one will call you a hero (maybe they will say you are one, but inside, nope). Those who have clarity on their life, they will laugh at you inside, and use you as a reminder for themselves why they are on the right path, and why they must not do what you are doing to yourself. 

Yes, we all have to hustle like mad as we build careers, even Uncle also did that when I just started working. In fact, I hustled for 20+ years!

BUT, even from my first job, Uncle always put time aside to exercise 2-3 times week, mostly jogging. Uncle also don't take sugary drinks, preferring to just drink lots of water. Not much alcohol and no smoking. My health is as important as my work, if not more. If Uncle has to work overnight, I will ensure I take the time off for it, to rest (not to go shopping). This is the key : sustainability. No point burning out, or being super unhealthy. If you are sick and cannot recover well, you will be using up your money for medical bills, and it comes back full circle, no money, no health. It's very not worth it. So what if you can eat fancy food, drive fancy cars, go for nice holidays, live in nice apartments, when you are in poor health?

So please, please please, be very clear on what you want out of your job, and use that to guide your decisions, on how to spend your time and health. 



Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Getting comfortable without a salary from working

 Not sure if I am there yet. Basically I am effectively drawing down my cash each month, primarily due to 2 things : mortgage and income tax mortgage (after CPF) is about $9k per month income tax is about $5k per month My investment cashflow covers all my other expenses, including utilities, groceries, handphone/internet bills, insurance, property taxes, condo maintenance fees, personal spending. With some input from wife who is still working, I am still out of pocket by almost $11k per month.  She will continue to be able to save a decent sum per month and I'll let her grow that and managed it for her via safe investments. Am I comfortable? Not really. I will if I am not out of pocket per month. If I really stop working for good, the income tax amount will go to $0 after 2025. So only mortgage left We can pay off the mortgage but I think I said before, it doesn't make sense since it's our home and we will be locking the money up with little leeway to do other things. So I ...

Expenses of a middle-classy Singapore uncle with family

I don't know what exactly is considered middle-class in SG, but I figured its the fat range in the middle section if we were to line people up based on income. There will be a steep drop off from the bottom 5% and a steep surge from the top 5, and another galactic surge from the top 1%. Uncle is pretty sure I am in that middle chunk of 90%, and based on my estimation, should be in the front 30 percentile in this chunk. Now, this is how my expenses look like for myself (excluding what my wife contributes). The numbers are on per month and in SGD Car expenses (loan, insurance, maintenance, tax, fuel) = $2,500 Insurance premiums = $800 Utilities bill = $350 Mobile lines for 5 = $90 Home internet line = $30 Services (Netflix, Spotify, iCloud) = $60 Condo maintenance fees = $350 Property tax = $250 Groceries and take out meals = $1200 Allowance for my parent = $1000 Allowance for kiddos = $200 School fees for kiddos = $150 Tuition fees = $270 Piano, and music classes = $900 Sub-Total fo...

CPF balances 24 July 2024

  I think for SA, my balance is considered "self-sustaining" as the 4% pa for SA could ensure my balance will continue to meet the FRS requirement every year until I reach 55. from CPF website, my SA balance already exceeds FRS for 2024. Every year, the FRS increases a little for inflation. E.g. the FRS for 2025 is 3.4% increase compared to 2024. But SA interest rate is 4%, so as long as you already reach FRS amount for current year, you will be fine I think, even if you stopped working (i.e. SA stops having contribution)